Mullein
Verbascum thapsis. An herb of many names. Flannel Leaf, Velvet Plant, Felt-Wort—due to its wooly leaves. Candlewick, Witch's Candle, Hag's Taper—due to its stalk which, stripped of its leaves and dipped in tallow, has been used as a torch since Roman times. Also: Quaker Rouge—becasuse the somewhat scratchy leaves, rubbed vigorously upon the skin, can produce a blush for those that look down on cosmetics.
Mullein is originally from the lands of Europe, Asia and North Africa and was considered one of the 23 most important herbs in medieval Jewish medicine. It’s leaves, boiled in milk, were an Irish folk remedy for turbuclosis. Once it came to North America, Native tribes smoked the leaves as an antidote to asthma and other respiratory and throat ailments.
Plants produce up to 100,000-240,000 seeds, most of which do not germinate, but hold onto the possibility for centuries. A soil sample from AD 1300 contained viable seeds! (Susan Mahr, University of Wisconsin – Madison). The flowering stalk appears in the second year. The first year, the plant forms a wooly basal rosette.