Josselyn does not mention the piscicidal properties of mullein. 
This role of the plant seems to have “‘gone underground”’ as a 
result of laws in many countries prohibiting its use for fishing. By 
the mid-1700s, its ability to stupefy fish was doubted, although it 
continued to be valued as a cure for various ills, including 
coughs in cattle and humans and as a remedy for inflamed eyes. 
The plant produces a mild narcotic, and tea made from it Is said 
to have a sedative effect. 
Verbascum, known commonly as “‘mullein’’ in English and as 
‘““gordolobo”’ in Spanish, and bestowing its name, as ‘‘bar- 
basco’’, on hundreds of unrelated plants used to drug fish, 
apparently has been a servant as well as a companion of man for 
many hundreds of years. 
NOTE: The aboriginal method of obtaining quantities of fish by dispersing 
ichthyotoxic plant material (collectively known as ‘“‘barbasco’’) in water, is 
employed in a modified form in the United States today. The purpose is 
primarily for “‘fish control’’, to eliminate undesirable species preparatory to 
stocking with trout. According to Dr. Robert S. McCraig, aquatic biologist 
(Division of Fisheries and Game, Commonwealth of Massachusetts), various 
commercial preparations (usually of rotenone, the active principle in many 
types of barbasco) in the form of finely milled powder or an emulsion, are 
utilized in the same way that plant material is used by primitive peoples. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
lam most gratefully indebted to Prof. Richard Evans Schultes 
for his encouragement in the preparation of this study and for his 
suggestions of specialized source material. I wish to thank Dr. 
Gene Wilhelm of Slippery Rock College for his suggestion that I 
investigate the origin of the term ‘“‘barbasco”’ as it relates to the 
genus name Verbascum. To Miss Anna Roosevelt, Curator, 
Museum of the American Indian, I express my appreciation for 
bibliographical references on the use of plant piscicides by 
North American Indians. To Ruth Robertson I owe special 
thanks for her photograph showing how barbasco fishing is 
carried out. It is taken from her book, Churtin Meru (1975), an 
account of her 1949 expedition to the foot of Angel Falls to 
measure its height for the first time. 
87 
