Mullein is not a native species. It's another one of a long list of plants that was brought over by European settlers, but far from being considered an invader, it quickly demonstrated its value. Native American tribes adopted mullein for its medicinal qualities (Brill, 1994
I first read about mullein's medicinal uses in Common Edible and Medicinal Plants of Colorado (1979) by Kathryn G. and Andrew L. March. "A cold can't be cured till it has run its course, but to help one along and relieve sore throat and cough nothing is superior to this gentle herb," they state. "An ounce of the dried leaves or the equivalent of fresh (a handful) can be infused in a pint of water, or better yet, boiled for ten minutes in a pint of milk, strained through a close-woven white cloth napkin to remove fine hairs, and taken with a little honey a half-cup at a time." The March's promise "a mild sedative effect" and that "a decoction or infusion also helps diarrhea."
We have yet to find mullein growing at our altitude so Gregg and I took the opportunity to collect some off I-70 on a return trip to the mountains from Denver. We pulled off an exit and harvested a few leaves from several different plants in a "waste area" on a hillside. Mullein is pretty much unmistakable. It has big, fuzzy, light green leaves. In its second year it produces a tall flower stalk with small yellow flowers reaching up to 6 feet in height.
Because of my own struggle with asthma, I am more interested in mullein's use to relieve asthma symptoms than I am seeking cold relief (although that might change come winter). In Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West (1997), Gregory Tilford talks about the Native Americans smoking dried mullein leaves to relieve asthma symptoms, although I have a hard time wrapping my brain around the idea of smoking anything to relieve asthma.
In their article on mullein, Meadowsweet Herbs out of Missoula, Montana, also talks about using the dried leaves, combined with Uva-ursi (aka kinnikinnik) and licorice, "as a smoking mixture to relax spasmodic coughing during chest infections and asthma." They go on to state, however, they they prefer to use a smoking treatment only with smokers.
It was during our class with Cattail Bob Seebeck in Drake, Colorado, that I learned of a different treatment method. Bob said to boil some mullein leaves and then inhale the vapors.
I want to take a moment to qualify this entry by explaining that mine is not the kind of asthma that lands one in the hospital. If your asthma is that bad, playing around with this kind of treatment may or may not be the best idea. Mine is triggered by aerobic exercise, a quick change in temperature, or allergens. It becomes difficult to breathe, and if left untreated, results in a nasty headache. However, I usually do not expire--even when the asthma is left untreated. This is just to illustrate the severity of the asthma we're working with here. Still, my doctors and my boyfriend have been hounding me to cut down on the albuterol rescue inhaler. The doctors want me to replace it with a daily steroid inhaler--and I have been resisting doing so, suspicious as I am of most long-term, regular use of mainstream medications.
Anyway, two days ago I had a mild asthma attack and took the opportunity to boil up some mullein leaves. I administered the treatment by breathing the vapors from a pot of water with a towel over my head. I noticed an expectorant effect but did not get complete and immediate relief from my syptoms, although further reading revealed that I may not have made a strong enough medicine. I did not use my rescue inhaler, however, and 15 minutes later I had clear lungs--although I cannot pinpoint whether it was the mullein or just the relaxation and the waiting that cleared up the symptoms.
According to Mullein--The Velvet Asthma Soother, an article by Cody Wells at azmacare.com, "Mullen Oil, taken in teas and fruit juices, has been effective in immediately relieving asthma attacks in some asthma sufferers. Unfortunately, it has also resulted in absolutely no benefit or relief for other asthma sufferers."
Mullein can supposedly be used to treat many ailments, in addition to sore throats, coughs, asthma, and diarrhea. On his website, "Wildman" Steve Brill has an excellent excerpt about mullein from his book, Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not-So-Wild) Places. From this entry I gleaned that mullein is an anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, and astringent. It can be used as a lung tonic and is good for whooping cough, emphysema, and bronchitis, not to mention arthritis, migraines, and ear infections. In some cases the medical advice is to make a tea out of the leaves. In others, like the ear infections, an oil is made out of mullein flowers. Check out Steve Brill's website for more information; or better yet, buy his book
I found additional uses for mullein at Meadowsweet Herbs, including the use of its root to treat bed-wetting and incontinence and as a diuretic and urinary tract astringent, as well as external use of the flowers for frostbite, bruises, and eczema. The site gives useful information on what parts of the mullein to harvest, when to harvest them, and what quantities to use in various treatments. It was also comforting to read that "Mullein is basically free of toxicity (as long as it is gathered from a clean location) and can be used in large doses."
I figured, therefore, that it would do me no harm to experiment with the plant a little bit more. Last night I took the left-over vapor-treatment water, strained the fine hairs out through an old shirt (I seem to never have cheesecloth on hand) and heated it up as tea. With a little milk and honey it tasted great. I wasn't having an asthma attack at the time and I didn't have one after I drank it--so nothing has been proven on my part aside from the fact that it is now the next morning and I feel fine. Mullein tea, welcome to my diet; we shall have many future experimentations together!
I'd like to make one final note in this long, long entry and that is that I did find one point on which sources differed--and that has to do with the use of the big fuzzy leaves as toilet paper! While Meadowsweet Herbs mentions "the leaves have been used as wild toilet paper," both "Wildman" Steve Brill and "Cattail" Bob Seebeck talk about reports of skin irritations after so indulging.
Brill, in particular, puts it quite colorfully in his excerpt from Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (& Not-So-Wild) Places
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[NOTE - 7.27.10: I recently read the following cautionary note in the Lone Pine Field Guide to Plants of the Rocky Mountains (1998) regarding mullein: "this plant is generally considered non-toxic and safe for consumption in reasonable quantities. However, it does contain rotenone and coumarin, both of which are classified as potentially dangerous by the FDA." I plan to look into this further, but in the meantime I wanted to share that point with readers.]
Post revised by etmarciniec 5.29.10 and again on 7.27.10.
Interesting. We've been using muellin garlic oil ear drops for years for ear aches.
That's great, Tracy! First the purslane, now the mullein. Very interesting, indeed. On my list of stuff to learn is how to make oil extracts out of stuff--like the mullein flowers, for example--so that they'll keep. Maybe one day I'll be able to make you some mullein garlic ear drops;)