Hello,

I am first getting into making my own medicinal herbal tinctures. I purchased a bag of Mullein Leaf from Mountain Rose Herbs. It looks more like a bud than the leaf. I viewed a youtube of somebody making a tincture from their mullein and saw what looked like dry leaves. So I googled a picture of Mullein and found this http://www.herbalextractsplus.com/images/herbs/mullein-leaf-isp.jpg So it looks like what I have is the small leaf at the top of the plant where the flowers bloom (head stalk) and not the big leafs at the bottom of plant like I saw in the video.

I am using mullein to help me clean my lungs and to ease coughing. So I have no idea if one part of the plant is better than another for this. The leaf I have seems pretty fresh and again more like a bud than the leaf.

What would be the best decotion as a tea? And according to Stephen Buhner Mullein leaf is made in a 1:2 ratio. This stuff is light so it takes up ALOT of space. What is the best way to grind this herb. Too soft for coffee grinder. Do I need to make it into a powder?

Thank you

David

The larger plant in the video is a second year plant . Mullein is a biennial . Herbalists prefer to use the leaves from the first year rosette . Perhaps , if they did things "correctly" that is the leaf you have . I like to place this herb in the tea water when cold , bring to a boil , and then let steep for 20 minutes .

I harvested a ripe seed head. My plan is to spread the seeds on the surface. Other suggestions ?

Spreading the seeds on the surface of a pond is supposed to stun fish so you can gather them up. Like dynamite, but temporary. (I haven't tried it.)


For human use, you boil the leaves into a tea.

wayne stephen wrote:The larger plant in the video is a second year plant . Mullein is a biennial . Herbalists prefer to use the leaves from the first year rosette . Perhaps , if they did things "correctly" that is the leaf you have . I like to place this herb in the tea water when cold , bring to a boil , and then let steep for 20 minutes .

Thank you Wayne!!!

Dale asks : "I harvested a ripe seed head. My plan is to spread the seeds on the surface. Other suggestions ?"

The mullein plants that come up every year in my garden pop up in a pattern around the 3-4 I allow to seed each year . I wonder how many pass through the G.I. tract of birds before hitting the ground ? The ground though is untilled . So , scattering on the surface should suffice . Perhaps , tamping lightly .

Thank you Wayne.

I moved some of my brother's stuff in my van and he saw fit to puncture the bag containing the seeds and to move it a dozen times. I still have a lot. Whenever I exit the van, I have a chance to accidentally plant mullein.

I rubbed mine on the metal screen of a strainer, like I do my sage. I don't know if this is the right way. It makes it powdery so I strain it with a coffee filter to drink.

Because this was brought up in the daily email I decided to try it for strengthening my lungs after a few weeks of coughing.
I did not get to it until moon light so the pictures are flash which is not so clear.
I picked some leaves from the patch where I dug Himalaya's after the mullen had seeded.
The fuzzy leaves are the favorite of the weaver bees which gather the fuzz to plug their nest cavities.
I put the cleaned leaves in boiling water with a potato masher to hold them under the water and turned the heat off to let them steep.
Will see how it works and report back.

David,

I wouldn't put the mullein into a coffe grinder if you're making tea, just use the cut leaf. If you try to powder it and use it in a tea, the powder will clog your strainer and you'll have some very gritty tea.

But do use a coffee grinder and try to powder it as much as possible if you're putting it into capsules.

Adding ginger to the mix will cleanse the lungs quicker. I prefer capsules, but get lazy and end up making teas..but with capsules it's easier for me to consume more herb throughout the day.

Dr. Morse's three lung tea is equal parts by weight mullein leaf, pleursy root, fenugreek seed. I haven't tried this combination in capsules, only tea...

and I can say when I took the ginger capsules combined with mullein capsules I had better lung cleansing than the times I've drank teas....but again I took lots of capsules per day compared to a few teas.