Meet the polycrest herbs: Plantain
If you’re interested in medicinal herbs, you can’t go for a walk without constantly scanning the ground to see what’s growing out of it. Some people believe herbs grow most plentifully where they’re needed. I don’t know if that’s true but if it is, the West Coast definitely needs a shed-load of plantain. I’m here at the moment on holiday and it’s everywhere. Maybe all the sandfly bites have something to do with it!
Look at it. Lush, happy and full of juice. It grows big here—much bigger than at home (plants grown at altitude tend to be more stunted than their sea-level counterparts). My foot’s in the image for scale. And while my feet aren’t enormous, they’re not tiny either.
‘Common’ doesn’t mean ‘useless’
There are 200 varieties of plant in the Plantain (Plantago) family. The variety shown in this image is Narrow or Ribleaf Plantain (Plantago lanceolata). The broad-leaved variety is P. major. Both are medicinal.
Psyllium husk, often used as a bulk laxative, comes from the seed husk of another Plantago variety, P. ovata.
This plant grows pretty much everywhere, so it’s easy to overlook it. But when a herb is so beloved by a herbalist heavyweight like Robin Rose Bennett, you know it’s gotta be good for you on multiple levels.
Cooling, moistening, nourishing
Plantain is cooling and moistening, which is why it’s well-known as a skin treatment for burns, stings, bites and inflammation generally. Anything that’s great for the skin externally is also brilliant for ‘internal’ skin. Plantain has a safe, gentle healing effect when taken as a tea for an angry, inflamed gut or urinary system. It’s anti-inflammatory, soothing, antiseptic and pain-relieving. It also supports the immune system.
Plantain is nutritious. It was traditionally used to fatten lambs but it’s good for people too, being high in protein, Vitamins A, C and K, and minerals including iron and calcium. It’s been used historically for anaemia and “failure to thrive” in young babies.
If you don’t like the taste of the tea but you want the nutritional benefits, do what Robin Rose does—dry it, then grind it into powder and chuck it into soups and stews. If you store it somewhere dark and dry, it will keep for up to a year.
Free medicine! Gotta love it!
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