You might have noticed the intriguing mullein plant (Verbascum thapsus) growing in your neighborhood – with its large, fuzzy leaves and towering flower spikes that can shoot up to 7 feet tall.
While it’s not the first edible plant many foragers choose to harvest, it can provide major health benefits for those who know how to use it properly.
If you want to forage mullein, there is plenty you need to know first.
Here are some tips for safely identifying, harvesting, and using this wonderful plant.
How to Forage Mullein
Before you go hunting for mullein, you need to know where and when to find it.
The ideal time of year for harvesting will depend on how you want to use the plant, and which parts you want to use.
Where and When to Find It
Common mullein is highly adaptable and can grow in practically any soil type, so you should be able to find it as long as you live in the right plant hardiness zone.
Mullein grows best in USDA hardiness zones 3 to 9.
While it can grow in many environments, it thrives in dry, sandy, and rocky soil in areas with full sun exposure.
It’s surprisingly adaptable even in poor nutrient-sapped soil, but it won’t take to wet soil. So don’t bother looking in super moist, water-logged areas.
Mullein often grows in disturbed and abandoned spaces, such as:
- Meadows
- Fields
- Roadsides
- Pastures
- Industrial areas
Mullein is biennial, meaning its life cycle lasts for two growing seasons.
Since you will most likely harvest mullein for its nutritional and medicinal qualities, it is vital to harvest at the right time to ensure the plant hasn’t lost any of its potency.
The best time to harvest flowers is in summer when the blooming stage begins.
Prioritize harvesting flowers as early as possible before they begin wilting. Keep in mind that mullein only produces flower stalks in its second year of growth, so make a note of new low-growing plants for next year’s flower harvest.
Leaves can be harvested at any point in the growing process, though smaller, newer leaves in their first year of growth are preferable to larger, older leaves.
Older leaves will also take longer to dehydrate.
How to Identify Mullein
In its first year of growth, mullein can be recognized by its rosette of low-growing basal leaves.
These leaves are large, lanceolate-shaped, and covered in fine hairs that give them a fuzzy texture.
Mullein plants are pale green, but these light-colored hairs can give the plant a silvery-grey cast.
The leaves are sometimes compared to lambs’ ears due to their wooly appearance.
The mullein plant begins flowering in the summer of its second year.
You can identify the plant by the large flower spike that shoots from the center of the leaf rosette, and the vibrant yellow flowers that bloom from its sides.
How to Harvest Mullein
Harvesting mullein isn’t difficult at all, but there are a few precautions you may want to take.
First, the tiny hairs covering mullein leaves can cause mild skin irritation, so consider using gloves when harvesting the plant.
Second, mullein stalks and stems can become tough by their second year of growth, so pruning shears or durable scissors are also recommended for removing leaves and flower spikes.
Doing so will protect the plant from unnecessary damage.
Mullein flowers open at different times so visit your local plants every day or second day if you want to maximize your flower harvest.
Avoid picking leaves in rainy or humid weather as both will promote mold growth.
Both leaves and flowers should be harvested on warm, clear days where possible.
Leaves and flowers can be dehydrated or air-dried for preservation purposes, but this will depend on how you intend to use them.
Insects also have a tendency to hide in the flowers, so make sure to inspect them and shake them off gently to remove any tiny hangers-on.
Nutritional and Medicinal Benefits of Mullein
Today mullein is often regarded as a pesky wide-spreading weed, but for centuries it was prized for its numerous medicinal properties, especially for lung and respiratory issues.
Even today mullein can still be used to treat minor health problems, and mullein extract can be found in health stores around the world. Benefits of mullein include:
- Mucus expulsion: Mullein is an expectorant, meaning it thins and loosens mucus in your airways, making it easier for you to breathe freely when sick.
- Anti-inflammatory: The mucilage inside mullein can help to reduce inflammation in the respiratory tract.
- Antiseptic: Studies have found the plant effective in fighting bacterial and viral infections, making it ideal as a herbal treatment for colds and flu.
- Antioxidants: Mullein contains vitamin C, flavonoids, and other antioxidants that can help to protect from cell damage.
Lookalikes You Should Know
Here are some mullein lookalikes, both toxic and non-toxic, that you should be aware of while foraging.
Take note of the differences between the plants, in case you encounter them in the wild.
Lambs Ear (Stachys byzantina): Like mullein, lambs ear has a similarly wooly texture due to the fine hairs growing on the leaves, and is also a pale grey-green color.
However, both the plant, its leaves, and its flower stalk are much shorter than mullein – in particular the stalk, which rarely grows taller than 2 ½ feet.
Its flowers are also small and bright purple.
Comfrey (Symphytum officinale): A similarly useful herbal plant, comfrey is sometimes confused with mullein due to its large green leaves that grow in a rosette, similar to mullein.
Fortunately, comfrey leaves are much less hairy and more smooth.
Also, comfrey flowers tend to be purple, pink, and blue.
Foxglove (Digitalis Purpurea): Foxglove is the most dangerous of the mullein lookalikes. It is toxic and can cause serious heart problems if consumed.
During the early growing stages, foxglove can be mistaken for mullein thanks to its similar rosette of large, furry green leaves. In fact, foxglove is the only plant I’ve ever mistaken for mullein (thankfully I didn’t touch it!), so be cautious.
You can differentiate the two by the leaf shape – foxglove leaves are pointier, less hairy, and have toothed edges.
Foxglove flowers also look entirely different, being bell-shaped and purple and pink.
9 Ways to Use Mullein
1. Tea
Historically, one of the most common ways to use mullein is by brewing it into tea.
Mullein tea is a simple and easy way to extract the plant’s anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties whenever you feel like it.
You can use dry mullein leaves or fresh or dry flowers to make a strong soothing tea and even combine it with other herbal ingredients.
2. Oil
Mullein oil can be made at home quite easily using a carrier oil and either the cold oil or hot oil extraction process.
I recommend using olive oil as it is very shelf-stable and can be both consumed and used directly on your skin.
Foragers and herbalists usually use mullein flowers to make oil, rather than leaves.
Flowers are considered to have a more intense concentration of the plant’s medicinal properties. Both fresh and dried flowers can be used.
Once your oil is infused you can use it in a number of ways. It can be added to food and drinks, used topically on the skin, or even used as eardrops when you have a cold, flu, earache, or infection.
3. Tincture
Creating a tincture is a great way to use mullein at its most potent. Take your dried mullein leaves and add them to a sterilized jar or bottle.
Cover the leaves with high-proof vodka until it is completely submerged, then leave the mixture in a cool, dark place for up to 6-8 weeks.
Once your tincture is infused and concentrated you can use it as an oral treatment in small doses. Drops can also be added to tea, juices, and other food and drinks.
4. Ointment
If you prefer to keep your mullein as a strictly topical skin treatment, you can make an ointment/balm/salve to use on dry skin, scrapes, and scratches, or even as a soothing chest rub for when you have a cough or other respiratory issues.
You can make an ointment once you’ve created infused mullein oil.
Add the oil to a pan with beeswax and a small amount of other essential oils of your choice and heat until the beeswax is melted and combined with the oil.
5. Syrup
Forget store-bought cough syrup – combat cold and flu with your very own homemade mullein cough syrup!
All it takes is a handful of mullein flowers and a cup of honey or sugar. The flowers are boiled in water for an hour and strained, and the mullein liquid is combined with the sugar or honey until dissolved.
The resulting syrup can be bottled and used to help alleviate respiratory discomfort and other issues.
6. Soups and Stews
So far we’ve talked extensively about the medicinal uses of mullein, but the plant is edible too!
Its leaves have a mild flavor and can be incorporated into soups, stews, and stir-fries. The flowers can also be used in salads.
Take care not to overcook mullein leaves, as they can develop a strong bitter taste.
I also wouldn’t recommend eating mullein leaves fresh, as the tiny hairs can be unpleasant and irritating.
7. Herbal Powder
If you’re someone who likes to create your own herbal supplements in powder and gel cap form, mullein is a great addition to your home apothecary.
The leaves in particular are very easy to dehydrate and grind down into a fine powder.
8. Candles
If you want to get really creative and out-of-the-box with your foraged mullein, consider making your own mullein candles, also known as “hag candles” or “hag torches” owing to their historic use in ancient ritual celebrations and witchcraft.
To make mullein candles you will need to wait until fall, when the flowers have dropped and the plant begins dying back.
Then you can collect the dried flower stalks. Each stalk is dipped into wax (either recycled candle wax, beeswax, or soy wax) several times and left to dry.
When you want to use one, snip off the end of the waxed stalk and light it. You should have a bright, evenly burning candle that lasts for well over an hour.
9. Herbal Cigarette
One of the oldest ways to use mullein is by smoking it. The dried leaves are powdered and added to a herbal mix, where they can then be smoked via rolling papers or a tobacco pipe.
Of course, this method won’t be palatable for everyone, but it can be an effective way to soothe your lungs or ease chest pain.
It has a very light flavor that mixes well with many herbal blends.
Safety Disclaimer
As with any edible species, you should always use reputable resources to help you identify plants correctly.
I recommend using the US Department of Agriculture Plant Database and other government directories to help with your search.
Wild plants, including mullein, should only be harvested and consumed when you can identify them with 100% certainty. If you’re not fully confident, leave it behind.
Please note that mullein seeds are toxic and should not be eaten or used in herbal remedies.
