Mulling mullein

This Spring just past, in a field North of the house, on the East side of the road, in the West side of the field, the Better Half [BH] and I noticed some very large rosettes growing. BH claimed they looked like mullein. I've usually been focused on the plant's tall stalk and so demurred. Now that we've reached the time of year when the plant  is grown and flowering, it's more than obvious that BH was/is correct and I need to spend more time with field guides, botany books and my eyes wide open. This was  the second time I've been unable to identify a mullein that wasn't in flower.

mullein: early Summer

Photo by J. Harrington

According to one of the most interesting books on plants I've ever read, Plants Have So Much to Give Us, All We Have to Do Is Ask, Anishinaabe Botanical Teachings by Mary Siisip Geniusz, "Mullein is one of a large group of plants that are easy to spot in the early spring as they grow in rosettes, perfect swirls of leaves low to the ground."

The author lists mullein as a medicinal plant and writes that:

Mullein has several strong medicinal virtues to share. Its leaves are a specific for bronchial conditions. One uses mullein for bronchitis; deep thick coughs; bronchial pneumonia; and chest colds. Mullein also has an oil that will stop internal bleeding.

mullein stalk with flowers: mid-July

Photo by J. Harrington

The scientific name for mullein is Verbascum thapsus. Anishinaabe named it Nookaadizliganzh. There are a number of vernacular names for it and uses other than medicinal. See if you can find a copy of the book through your local library or independent book store. It's an enjoyable read, more so if you can remember what you've read next Spring time when you notice some large rosettes and wonder what they are. I suspect that I'd remember the names and what the plant looked like if I actually used it as part of my yearly living instead of simply reading about it from time to time. That's a variation on the old saying about giving someone a fish versus teaching them to fish, I think.

After the Removal of 30 Types of Plants and Animals
from the Junior Dictionary

Rose McLarney

Almond no more. Blackberry blanked out. Cheetah cast off.
But if no acorn, because the young will use language for nature less,

by that logic, no arousal, brief surge of blood that cannot continue
but lets lives be conceived. If no bluebell because flowers are fleeting,

no beauty to begin with for these bodies which wither. If no cygnet,
the downy being preceding permanent feathers, then no childhood

since those who are sheltered under a wing cannot stay, not the same.
As we might wish mother, many children’s earliest word, will always

be one they hold in mind, can we not let their mouths keep
mistletoe, minnow, and magpie? Leave a few things intact,

allow the possibility of turning books’ pages in reverse
to lobster then leopard then lark, to the letter of last—of lasting—of live.

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