JULY 2009 - Nature’s First Aid Plant

Its spring and everyone is outside planting gardens, cleaning the yard, etc. We also wind up getting a cut or scrape or maybe a bee sting or insect bite. Well there is a plant that is probably growing in your yard that will take care it these problems; it's Plantain. You probably have the wide leaf variety somewhere close. Plantain is an herb that will help with cuts, scrapes, bee stings, and other insect bites.

It's also called Englishman's foot or White Man's foot) Pronounced plan·tain it is a perennial that grows from 6 - 18" tall with broad-oval leaves that are wavy margined or toothed and ribbed. The stalk is grooved and its flowers are in a slender, elongated head. The Latin name "Plantago" means "sole of the foot", because of the shapes of the leaf.

Plantain is very easy to cultivate, it succeeds in any soil and prefers a sunny position. It is an important food plant for the caterpillars of many species of butterflies. The flower stalks, are erect, long, slender, and has densely-flowered spikes. Each tiny flower is brownish and bell-shaped with four stamens and purple anthers. Flowers bloom most of the summer. The fruit is a two-celled capsule and containing four to sixteen seeds. Harvest fresh young edible leaves in spring. Gather Plantain after flower spike forms, dry for later use.

Plantain seems to have followed the migrations of colonists to every part of the world, and in America it has been called by Native Americans the 'Englishman's Foot' (or the White Man's Foot), for wherever the English have taken possession of the soil the Plantain springs up.

Plantain has been acclaimed for its ability to relieve bee stings, insect and spider bites, and rashes from an unfortunate encounter with Poison Ivy or Stinging Nettles. Plantain is a first rate "First Aid" plant that is usually close-at-hand, wherever you may be. A few fresh leaves, crushed or chewed, can be used to quickly stop the bleeding of an open wound, stop the pain and inflammation of bites and stings, and relieve the itching from poison ivy. A cup of strong Plantain tea will quell the worst indigestion, and a small wad of chewed leaf placed next to the gum will quiet a painful toothache until it can be attended to.

A simple salve, made with an olive oil and fresh Plantain and a little beeswax is a very good general purpose remedy for many skin ailments, and is especially helpful with diaper rash, but don't use it on Poison Ivy or Poison Oak as the Olive oil will spread the fluid from the Poison Oak or Ivy on the skin.

Plantain is edible and medicinal, the young leaves are edible raw in salad or cooked as a pot herb, they are very rich in vitamin B1 and riboflavin.

Plantain can be found in your yard, in waste places, in fields, and along roadsides.

The part most often used is the leaf and it has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, antiseptic, antispasmodic, astringent, expectorant, decongestant, hemostatic, and mucilaginous properties among others. To use on a cut, bite or sting, find a plant and pick one of the leaves and then chew it (the saliva activates the plants healing properties) and place it on the affected area and cover with a band aid or bandage.