I’ve looked for mullein in my area, but never found any. I’ve been trying to learn to identify weeds, wild herbs, and such, starting with my yard, but I’ve never seen anything that looks like mullein.
Okay, I see. Just passing on what I read. Have not had any personal experience in foraging for it. Although, now, I will know not to discard mullein when I am weeding.
Mullein is prolific on my property because I allow it. One day it just appeared. Saw it as I was mowing and mowed around it.
It takes two years for the stalk to appear. The first year, the soft fuzzy pale green leaves grow low to the ground. The second year the leaves expand to about a foot long and the stalk with the yellow flowers sprouts. It likes dry soil and full sun. Birds just loooooooove the seeds!
Trivia: Mullein used to be used as torches. They were dipped in wax then lit.
It can be smoked to clear the lungs.
They tend to grow in “waste” ground along roadsides, empty lots, traffic islands, anywhere not really cared for. In July and August they are hard to miss. They can be 6 feet tall. In late summer they have a spike of yellow flowers that birds love atop a column of velvety leaves.
To my eye, they look like the crowning finial on a piece of gothic architecture.
I rip ‘em up when I find them on my property.