I’ve been seeing a ton on FB lately about mullein. Which is a little strange to me since I think of it as being primarily for respiratory issues and earaches. I first got mullein from my friend Judy that lived a lot closer to the mountains than I do – Hwy 85 south of Greeley. She had fields of it. Mullein is pretty distinctive, and now I have been seeing it more locally (NE CO). I was blessed that a plant started last year in one of my raised beds and has grown like crazy. It must like it here!

Mullein grows fairly tall (about 10 feet at max) and has a flower spike at the top with yellow flowers.

The flowers are more for ear and nervous system issues. Making a garlic oil with mullein flowers added is great for earaches (as long as the eardrum is not ruptured). The mullein is moistening and anti-inflammatory and the garlic is a great antimicrobial. The flowers are also great in tincture for things like facial pain due to Bell’s palsy or trigeminal neuralgia.

The leaves are used more for respiratory issues: that dry hacking cough that just keeps hanging on. Mullein helps to moisten the respiratory tract and work as an expectorant. All preparations made with mullein leaves should be run through a coffee filter – the little hairs on the leaves can be quite irritating to some people (a really good reason to not use it for toilet paper unless you try it out on your arm first!).

Mullein is a biennial, so I will try to harvest a bit this year as the stand may not be as great next year.

Mostly what I have seen on FB though has been using mullein for spinal issues – not so much for pain, but for strengthening and straightening long term (or repeated) injuries to the spine. While I have not found that in the herbal books I reference most often, I did find this article by Jim McDonald that talks about the use of mullein ROOT for it: https://www.herbcraft.org/plants/mullein

Mullein can also be used for urinary incontinence and to strengthen the bladder. It has no poisonous lookalikes to my knowledge and works in a very gentle way. I would really encourage you to harvest some if you have a friend (hi, Judy!) with some.