A Wild Medicinal Edible to Know and Grow
Don’t kill that weed! Plantago Major is an edible and medicinal plant and one of the best weeds for food and medicine.
Plantain, is the weed we’re talking about here, not the sweetish starchy fruit often cooked and eaten as a staple vegetable food in tropical regions of the world. That plantain is in the musa, or banana family.
What we’re talking about is the green low leafy plants known as common plantain, or “White Man’s Foot” by the Native American Indians. Chances are we’ve all trampled these plants in hikes or meadow walks and maybe even out in our yards. A common weed, plantain grows abundantly, all over the world, which is a good thing, because it is a plant with many uses.
We like plantain and are fortunate to have a lot of it growing wild in our yard and neighborhood. However, we also have dogs, so we’re actually growing some in our garden, where the dogs don’t tread.
Common Plantain, Plantago
- NAME: Plantago major
- GENUS: Plantago
- FAMILY: Plantaginaceae
Two Varieties of Plantain
- Broadleaf Plantain – (Plantago major), also known as White Man’s Footprint, because the Eurasians brought this plant to the “new world”.
- Narrowleaf Plantain – (Plantago lanceolata), also known as ribwort and buckthorn
Common Names for Plantago Major – Broadleaf Plantain
- Broadleaf plantain
- Buckhorn plantain
- Greater plantain
- Rippleseed plantain
- Waybread plantain
- White Man’s Footprint
Common Names for Plantago Lanceolata – Narrowleaf Plantain
- Buckhorn plantain
- English plantain
- Lanceleaf plantain
- Narrow-leaved plantain
- Ribgrass plantain
- Ribwort plantain
Plantago Uses Includes the Entire Plant
Edible and medicinal, this weed… herb… plant, can be eaten, steeped into tea and made into poultices and salves, using leaves, roots, seeds and flower spikes. In other words, the entire plant can be used.
Plantain is a good plant to have on hand and to know about, not only as a survival food, but also for an every day in-season contribution to salads and other foods.
If you’re going to plant plantain, we recommend the broadleaf plantain – the Plantago major, because there’s more vegetable matter in each leaf to put good use. However, Plantago lanceolata leaves are also wonderful plucked and eaten raw, added to salads, cooked like spinach, dried for tea and tinctures, or added to smoothies.
Uses and Benefits of Plantain – Plantago
There are many uses and benefits of the Plantago plantain. Plantain is a little bit like an aspirin: one plant (or one pill), many uses.
We have provided research links to many of the ailments that may benefit from Plantago major’s medicinal properties. Beyond that, it can be helpful to reference a list of plantain’s medicinal chemical compounds which we’ve listed below. Because again — as with aspirin or vitamins — one pill, can provide many benefits, so it’s the same for Plantago major’s medicinal compounds..
Plantain Poultices Uses
- Astringent qualities draws toxins from the body, including extractive for:
- acne
- splinters
- Bee stings
- Bug bites
Plantain Wash Uses
- Hemorrhoids
- Skin irritations
- Eczema
- Psoriasis
- Sunburn
- Diaper rash
- Acne
- Poison ivy/poison oak/sumac (this remedy using plantain and jewelweed is great)
Health Benefits of Plantain Include
- anti-inflammatory – Including liver damage inducing inflammation prevention[1]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4537734/[2]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2861812/
- antimicrobial –