Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various Eurasian plants of the genus Verbascum of the figwort family, especially V. thapsus, naturalized in North America, having a tall spike of yellow flowers and leaves covered with dense woolly down.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Verbascum. They are tall herbs having coarse leaves, and large flowers in dense spikes. The common species, with densely woolly leaves, is Verbascum Thapsus.
  • noun See under Moth.
  • noun an American herb (Seymeria macrophylla) with coarse leaves and yellow tubular flowers with a spreading border.
  • noun the cowslip.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of several European and Asian plants, of the genus Verbascum, that have yellow flowers and downy leaves; the velvet plant

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of various plants of the genus Verbascum having large usually woolly leaves and terminal spikes of yellow or white or purplish flowers

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English moleine, from Anglo-Norman, probably from mol, soft, from Latin mollis; see moil.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

14th century; Middle English moleyne, from Anglo-Norman moleine, from mol ‘soft’. The name evokes the plant's fluffy, downy leaves, also apparent in synonyms, such as feltwort, flannel leaf, and velvet plant.

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Examples

  • There is a kind of melancholy symbolism in this flower as it withdraws from the light, which is the complete opposite of bright yellow candles of great mullein burning in the sun.

    Country diary: Wenlock Edge 2011

  • I laughed out loud when I saw the larger ears glued to foam and such for I had done something similar back speaking of dinosaurs! twenty years ago… I made containers for orchids and such for a gig in NY… a round ball with a water pic inserted… they became part of table arrangements for a birthday party on Park Ave. I suppose mullein leaves could be used in a similar way.

    More Moss Magic « Fairegarden 2009

  • Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid no matter what the source; willow bark, mullein leaves or chemical reactor.

    Friday! October 16 – The Bleat. 2009

  • First mullein flower spikes showing, also sumac flower masses.

    Not raining jhetley 2009

  • Some people have found that inhaling the smoke from burning dried mullein leaves can halt an asthmatic attack, causing a relaxation of the respiratory muscles whose spasms prevent breathing during an attack.

    The insects come for our intrepid blogger and his husband. Will 2009

  • I like to grow some weeds in my garden – mullein being one of my favorite, but I also have some Prunella vulgaris that I got from my parents.

    Bloom Day/Weed Day July 2009 « Fairegarden 2009

  • The common name that I know this species by is wooly mullein.

    The insects come for our intrepid blogger and his husband. Will 2009

  • An antispasmodic, mullein can relieve stomach cramps and help control diarrhea.

    Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008

  • An antispasmodic, mullein can relieve stomach cramps and help control diarrhea.

    Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008

  • Also rabbit-foot clover, mullein, day-lilies, and the first of the vexed purple loosestrife of the season.

    Sunday roadkill report jhetley 2008

Comments

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  • I just discovered this word today, reading W.S. Merwin.

    April 15, 2008

  • from Thoreau's A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

    July 19, 2009