Herbal KnowledgeJul 22, 2025
Have you ever seen a field full of Mullein, with its wooly leaves and bright yellow blooms? It’s quite the sight, but there’s more to this herb than meets the eye. See what makes this herb so special, from its super deep tap root and resilient nature to its lore as the “Candlestick Plant.”
Keep reading for 5 fun facts about Mullein, including its uses in herbalism.
Mullein is one of the many plants we grow on our Regenerative Organic Certified® farms in southern Oregon. Mullein is unique in that we only harvest this plant by hand, and doing so is quite the process! The aerial parts of Mullein are covered with tiny hairs. These hairs can be irritating to the skin, so we encourage our farmers to wear long sleeves, masks, and gloves while harvesting. We use two parts of the Mullein plant for our extracts, the flowers and leaves. And while we don’t use the root in any of our products, it is used in herbalism.
Mullein is a hardy plant that can grow in some of the most unlikely places. Mullein is often considered a common weed, and depending on where you live, you may spot it on roadsides in dry, sandy soil. Mullein is biennial, which means it lives for two years. In its first year of life, the leaves grow in a basal rosette. In its second year, it sprouts a tall flower stalk. Mullein is a prolific seed producer. It can produce between 136,000 – 175,000 seeds, and those seeds can remain viable for 35-100 years or longer!1 The seeds need light to germinate, and that’s one of the reasons why Mullein tends to do so well in bare soil.
Mullein is native to Europe and parts of Asia. It was introduced widely over North America, and can be found on every continent except Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. Mullein is used in some Native American herbalism, namely by the Abenaki, Atsuegewi, Catawba, Cherokee, Cree, Delaware, Hopi, and Iroquois tribes. It’s even used in Hopi witchcraft! The leaves and stems are excellent tinder when dry, and before the introduction of cotton, dry Mullein was used for candlewicks, giving it the nickname the “Candlewick Plant.”2 Both in Europe and Asia, Mullein was thought to drive away evil spirits, too.2 It’s also referenced in Homer’s The Odyssey as the plant which Ulysses took to protect himself against the wiles of Circe.2
When it blooms, Mullein is covered in pretty yellow flowers that bees love. Even though Mullein doesn’t produce a ton of nectar, wild bees, Honeybees, Bumblebees, and different species of flies enjoy the readily available flowers and staminal hairs. Livestock typically doesn’t enjoy munching on Mullein because of the woolly leaves, but it can be a good food source for elk and deer.1
Our Mullein Blend liquid herbal extract includes a mix of Mullein flowers and leaves. Mullein Blend offers traditional respiratory support and is a traditional, soothing lung expectorant. That’s not the only place you’ll find Mullein at Herb Pharm! We use Mullein in other herbal products, too, like Kids Cough Crusader™, Kids Herbal Hug™, and more.
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