Stem leaves are alternate, overlapping one another, light green, densely woolly, and four to twelve inches long. Flowers are borne on long terminal stalks, sulfur yellow, five-lobed and more than an inch in diameter. Flower and seed production starts at the bottom of the stalks and occurs from June to August. Mullein flowers tend to open one at a time or in small groups and are relatively short-lived. A single plant can produce up to 175,000 tiny, brown seeds, most of which are dispersed within three feet of the plant, though they can spread as far as 35 feet.
Common mullein has a long history of both mystical and medicinal uses.
According to Greek legend, the gods gave Ulysses a mullein stalk to defend himself against the enchantress Circe, who had turned Ulysses' friends into swine with a magic drink. During the Middle Ages, this plant was said to give the power to control demons, though it most likely provided its users with little more than a light source. Greeks and Romans weaved mullein fibers into lamp wicks or dipped the whole head into tallow and carried them as torches. It is also used as a tobacco substitute. Mullein usually occupies abandoned farmland and roadsides that are highly disturbed, and is generally considered an indicator of poor pasture management.