Plantain

Plantago major

Also: Broadleaf plantain, Ribwort, Plantago lanceolata, Waybread

CoolingMoisteningTonifying

The first-aid weed underfoot.

A low rosette of ribbed leaves that thrives in trampled ground, with narrow-leaved ribwort as its close cousin. Plantain draws, soothes, and heals: stings and splinters on the skin, irritation along the gut and airways.

Energetics: Cooling, moistening, tonifying
Taste: Slightly bitter, salty, green
Family: Plantaginaceae (plantain family)
Parts used: Leaves and seeds

Medicinal uses 6

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Traditional useLab and mechanism studiesClinical studies

Bites & stingsTLC
Chewed fresh and laid on a bee sting or mosquito bite, it pulls out the sting and the itch, and draws splinters.
Cuts, scrapes & bleedingTLC
Cleans and closes cuts and scrapes; the base of most green salves.
Rashes & eczemaTLC
Calms rashes and allergic skin reactions.
Gut irritation & ulcersTLC
Soothes and heals an irritated stomach and intestinal lining.
Dry coughTLC
Ribwort loosens dry, irritated coughs.
Loose bowelsTLC
The dried leaf tones loose bowels and an irritated bladder.

Preparations

Fresh poultices, green salve, leaf tea, and young greens.

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Cautions

Very safe.
If you take the seed husks (psyllium) as fiber, drink plenty of water and keep them two hours apart from medications.

Medication interactions

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Pregnancy & breastfeeding

PregnancyGenerally compatible

A nutritive plant with no uterine activity, broadly considered safe.

BreastfeedingGenerally compatible

Safe at moderate doses.

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Folklore

The Anglo-Saxon Nine Herbs Charm calls plantain waybroad, mother of herbs, and honors it for enduring the carts that rolled over it and the women who trod on it. The genus name comes from the Latin planta, sole of the foot. Plantain followed European settlers so closely that some Native American peoples called it white man's footprint, a name Longfellow put into The Song of Hiawatha in 1855. Children still knock the heads off ribwort stems in a game called soldiers.

How to grow

It plants itself. For a patch on purpose, scatter seed on bare ground in sun; it tolerates compacted soil, lawns, and paths, and returns each year from its rosette.

In the wild

Lawns, paths, roadsides, and field edges on every continent but Antarctica. Native to Europe and Asia, it spread wherever people walked.

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