Cowboy Toilet Paper refers to the Flannel Plant which is sometimes used as toilet paper.
Cowboy's toilet paper is an invasive wildflower that is native to Eurasia and Africa.
It is a biennial, meaning that it lives for two years.
The flannel plant also known as Mullein is a biennial, the first year a base of rosette soft fuzzy leaves and year two sending up the flower stalk as much as 6 feet tall with bright yellow flowers.
The unique name for this plant comes from its occasional use as a toilet paper replacement.
Leaves of the flannel plant are covered in woolly hairs that make the leaf quite soft.
If used as toilet paper, it is important to get fresh leaves rather than old, dry leaves as these will crumble during use.
If the cowboys used the large velvety leaves of the mullein (Verbascum thapsus) plant while out on the range, then you can too! Mullein is a biennial plant available for use in almost every bioregion.
Common mullein (Verbascum thapsus L.) is a medicinal plant readily found in roadsides, meadows and pasture lands and has been used to treat pulmonary problems, inflammatory diseases, asthma, spasmodic coughs, diarrhea and migraine headaches.