Family: Scrophulariaceae/ Figworts
Ecology/ Botany:
It is a biennial, meaning it grows a rosette of velvety soft, fuzzy, large leaves in the first year and a towering stalk, topped with small yellow flowers, in the second. It grows in gravelly, disturbed soils and is not a true North American native but well established here. It’s native to Eurasia.
Medicinal/ Traditional/ Other Uses:
It has been used as a torch, dipped in tallow or suet. Indigenous people have smoked the leaves. It has medicinal properties for the lungs as an expectorant and tonic, to clear mucous and build lung tissue. It also clears mucous from the throat and sinuses and has been used to make a pain-relieving ear oil for earaches.
References/ Other useful links:
E-FLORA BC: ELECTRONIC ATLAS OF THE FLORA OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Native American Ethnobotany DB
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0102695X13701261
Parish, Coupe, Lloyd. 1996. Plants of Southern Interior British Columbia. B. C. Ministry of Forests and Lone Pine Publishing.