Archive for August 29, 2011
ALL PRAISE THE GREAT MULLEIN
We bought our land the weekend before Thanksgiving, and the next summer I walked around with big eyes watching to see what would come up. In a handful of places I saw a single tall, plant. On the edge of a meadow. By the side of our main trail where there was a little erosion. In the shadow of the new barn.
Mullein up close and personal. (photo credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/postbear/5924516654/
It seemed majestic towering above the other plants, so solitary with its torch of tiny yellow blossoms. I hoped it was a native prairie plant.
Now I know it is Mullein Verbascum thapsus. It’s not a native. Europeans brought it with them in the early 18th century for it’s medicinal properties to treat various ailments such as lung diseases, diarrhea, colic, migraines, earaches, coughs and cold.
It has long been a useful plant. (more…)
