# Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)

**Verbascum*; hag’s taper*

**Known today as.** *Verbascum thapsus*.

Kind: Plant

## What was it used for?

For coughs and the lungs; the leaves as lamp-wicks, the dried stalks dipped in tallow as torches.

## What does modern science say?

A mild demulcent for coughs. The flowers are rich in mucilage and saponins, which account for its soothing of a cough, and extracts kill some bacteria in the dish; no drug has been made from it. Mullein oil, the flowers steeped in olive oil, is still dropped in the ear for earache in folk and herbal practice.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **mucilage**: 3 per cent
- **verbascoside**: a phenylethanoid
- **aucubin**: an iridoid
- **saponins**: verbascosaponin

**Mechanism.** The mucilage soothes the throat and the saponins thin the phlegm: a demulcent expectorant. The flower oil in the ear, a folk remedy, was tested in children with ear pain in a herbal mixture (Sarrell, 2001) and matched the anaesthetic drops.

**Dose.** Safe; the leaf hairs irritate the throat if the tea is not strained.

**Standing.** EMA monograph (2018) for the flower for sore throat and dry cough, on tradition.

## What lore surrounds it?

“Hag’s taper”: its torches were said to light the witches’ gatherings, and to drive away evil spirits.

Settlers carried it to America, where native peoples took up the smoking of the dried leaf for the lungs and lined their moccasins with the soft leaves against the cold; the seeds, thrown in water, stunned fish. Its other names run to Adam’s flannel, Aaron’s rod, and candlewick plant, the down of the leaves having served as wicks.

## What did the older authorities say?

**Dioscorides.** Gives *phlomos* for coughs and the chest, and the leaves for burns and old sores.

**Pliny.** Describes two kinds of *verbascum*, and the stalks dipped in tallow and burned as torches at funerals, whence the Roman *candela regia*, the king’s candle.

## Sources

- Dioscorides, *De materia medica*.
- Grieve, M. *A Modern Herbal*, “Mullein, Great.” As published on botanical.com.
- Pliny, *Natural History* XXV.
- Turker, A. U., and Gurel, E. (2005). “Common mullein: recent advances in research.” *Phytotherapy Research* 19.
- EMA/HMPC (2018). *European Union herbal monograph on Verbascum thapsus L., V. densiflorum Bertol. and V. phlomoides L., flos* (EMA/HMPC/611537/2016).
- Sarrell, E. M., et al. (2001). “Efficacy of naturopathic extracts in the management of ear pain associated with acute otitis media.” *Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine* 155.

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*Mullein.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-01. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/mullein

Historical description, not medical advice.