The common name, Mullein, comes from the Latin root "mollis," meaning soft.
Take a look at those large leaves you see as you drive along the highways of America and imagine the following:
Going way back Greeks dried the leaves and used them as wicks for candles and oil lamps.
Ulysses carried mullein to protect himself against the evil Circe. Greek legend tells that the plant would ward off evil spirits.
The Roman soldiers soaked the tall stems in oil and, behold, torches.
Impoverished folks lined their shoes and stockings with the large leaves for warmth.
Hummingbirds often use the soft leaves for their nests. Leaves can reach 12" long and 5" wide. The leaves begin large at the bottom of the plant and successively get smaller at the top for these are newer leaves. The large leaves at the bottom have the effect of keeping the earth cooler at the roots and preserves moisture.
Mullein is biannual which means that they will grow as a rosette the first year and the second year they will produce a tall stalk with its yellow flowers that attract various insects. Then it dies, but it has already produced up to 100,000 seeds!
Mullein oil is used as a bactericide to kill germs, and it useful for many health concerns.
Remember all this when you see the weed along the Interstate Highways.
Reading one of the many,many works the writer has overlooked in the past he obtained a copy of James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. In it, in chapter VIII, he found the following:"...for the three quickest and truest rifles in these woods, are no better than so many stalks of mullen, or the last year's horns of a buck!"