Common mullein

The common, or great mullein, a European species, is familiar sight in late summer throughout much of the United States. It was introduced for its herbal medicinal properties and quickly spread. Mulleins prefer disturbed areas--this plant took root next to the Milwaukee Road railroad tracks in Morton Grove.

The leaves are velvety--which is probably how the apocryphal story that Native Americans used the leaves as toilet paper.

You'll have to click on the image to make it larger, but the gray patch on top of the stalk is a female downy woodpecker. The smallest North American woodpecker, the downy is able to hunt for insects on plants that are too small to support the weight of larger birds.

Related entry:

Scarlet tanager in Morton Grove

Earlier Morton Grove wildflower posts:

• Tiger swallowtail and thistle
• Pokeweed in Morton Grove
• Morton Grove's August mayapples
• Orange daylilies
• Giant nodding thistle invades Morton Grove!
• Large-flowered coreopsis
• Ohio spiderwort
• Blue flag iris after a prescribed burn
• After a prescribed burn: Morton Grove's brown lands
• Daisies in Morton Grove
• Common cinquefoil
• Woodland phlox
• Wild geraniums
• Virginia bluebells
• Mayapples
• Red trillium
• On this day: Linnaeus publishes major work; Morton Grove trillium
• Blue violet, Illinois' state flower

Midwest Wildflower Seed 1/2 Pound From The Dirty Gardener