Mullein / Cowboy toilet paper / Verbascum thapsus — Charles de Mille-Isles

Common Mullein - the Roadside Torch Parade HISTORY Common mullein (Verbascum thapsus L. #3 VESTH) has an ancient relationship with man. It never has been used for food but traditionally has been respected for its mystical and medicinal powers. According to Greek legend, the gods gave Ulysses a mullein stalk to defend himself against the wiles of Circe (4), the enchantress who turned the companions of Ulysses into swine by means of a magic drink. During the Middle Ages, mullein was imputed with the power to control demons (7); an old herbal says, "If a man beareth one twig of this wort, he will not be terrified by any awe, nor will a wild beast hurt him, or any evil coming near" (4). Perhaps the majestic appearance of the mature plant up to 21 m (7 ft) tall, with candelabra-like flowering spikes - earned it this respect, or perhaps its use as a source of light: Greeks fashioned mullein fibers into lamp wicks or used the dried leaves, and Romans dipped the whole head of the plant into tallow and carried this natural torch in funeral possessions (7). Mullein also is an established medicinal herb. One of its popular names "lungwort," derives from its most common use: from ancient Rome to modem Ireland, a tea made from its leaves has been used as a cure for lung diseases in both humans and livestock (4, 7). It is also a traditional treatment for diarrhea and rheuma-tism, and ointments for bums and earaches are still made from its leaves in the rural mountains of the Eastern United States (7). It is used as a tobacco substitute (11) and a remedy for nettle rash (9). The Puritans brought mullein seeds to America for their medicinal herb gardens. By the late 1630s, mullein had escaped to neighboring fields and roadsides (7). Assettlers moved west and planted new gardens, patches of mullein marked every abandoned homestead. Mullein also was brought to the United Stats as a useful piscicide (fish poison). Aristotle recorded this use in his Historia Animalium (11). Stream fishermen throughout Europe and Asia, particularly in Germany and Britain, used mullein seeds as a piscicide for centuries even though Frederick II (1194-1250), King of Germany, outlawed fish poisoning as early as 1212 A.D. Appalachian settlers, who viewed conventional fishing as less manly than hunting,occasionally used mullein as an indirect way to supplement their diet. One old North Carolina resident had this to say about his German forefathers, who immigrated in the 1720s: "They'd heard `bout the new land `cross the waters `n decided to bring thangs that'd help `em git a start. Stinging fish was one easy way of gittin' food at first, so feltwort seeds were brung `long" (11).