Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 August 1882 — Mullein. [ARTICLE]

Mullein.

The common mullein, regarded as but a common coarse weedin this country, and so common in fields as to often {>rove a nuisance, is cultivated in Engand for its beauty.' A writer in the Gardeners' Chronicle says that it is “well worth the attention of both professional and amateur gardeners.” It seems that it is known in England by the common name of “Aaron’s Rod.” “There are two reasons,” says this writer, “why it should be called by this name: First, the Romans the stems in tallow, and burnt them at funerals. Secondly, the simple spike is long, cylindrical," and on it is a quantity of densely packed, very large, handsomfi golden yellow flowers. The stem is five feet high. The flowers, when dried in the sun, give out a fatty matter, which is used in Alsace as a cataplasm in the hemorrhodial complaints. Formerly the plant was called barbasoum, from barba, meaning a beard, an allusion either to the shaggy nature of its foliage, or else to two of the five stamens, which are hairy.”