Family Name: Scrophulariaceae
Botanical Name(s): Verbascum Thapsus
Popular Name(s): Mullein, Great Mullein, Velvet Plant, White
Mullein, Verbascum Flowers, Bullock's Lungwort, Cow's Lungwort.
Parts Used: The dried flower petals are used
Habitat: It is distributed all over Europe and parts of Asia.
Description: Mullein is a hardy biennial with gray-green, woolly
leaves and yellow flowers in the summer. The leaves near the base of the
stem are large and numerous, 6 to 8 inches long and 2 to 2 1/2 inches
broad, but become smaller as they ascend the stem.
Uses: It is used for coughs, whooping cough, bronchitis,
laryngitis, tonsillitis, tracheitis, asthma, influenza, tuberculosis,
urinary tract infections, nervous tension and insomnia. Although it is
particularly effective to loosen mucus in the lungs it also shows some
success with reducing water retention. The whole plant seems to possess
slightly sedative and narcotic properties.
