Found: The common (or broad-leafed) plantain is found just about anywhere and thrives in areas with very compact soil – take a look around a heavily trafficked footpath or in waste areas.
Identifying: It is a perennial that grows to about 6 – 18 inches in height. The leaves are broad and oval-like, and are deeply ribbed with a grooved stalk.
Parts Used: Leaves, seeds
Medicinal Use: The plantain is a folk remedy for cancer throughout Latin America. Confirmed as an antimicrobial. Stimulates healing. Leaf tea is good for coughs, diarrhea, dysentery, and bloody urine. Good for bronchodilation; this has been confirmed scientifically and is used in Europe for bronchitis. As a treatment of upper respiratory catarrh and for inflamed mucous membranes of mouth and throat, it has been approved in Germany. Leaves can be crushed and directly applied to insect stings, snake bites, poisonous spider bites, skin irritations (even poison ivy), blisters, sores, swelling. Good for thrush in children. Mild antibiotic and anti-inflammatory – great for cleaning wounds. Has great ability to draw out and close up infection; in fact it’s one of the best drawing herbs in Western herbalism. Therefore, it’s also quite useful for boils and abscesses. Plantain seed mucilage sometimes used for lowering cholesterol levels. Native American remedy for Bell’s palsy. If you’re prone to bouts of the scurvy, plantain is loaded with Vitamin C and was a common European Renaissance herb used for this purpose.
Preparation: As a poultice, the crushed leaf can be applied directly to a wound, bite, or skin irritation. For abscesses around the teeth, inflamed tooth roots, or remaining infection after a root canal, Matthew Wood recommends the plantain leaf highly and says he’s even seen it save teeth that were otherwise doomed to be lost. For wounds, stings, bites etc., you can even chew the leaf first and apply the chewed leaf directly to affected area which makes it a good plant to know if you plan on a camping or hiking trip. As an infusion in milk, plantain can be used on hemorrhoids. Plantain can be dried and used as a tea for winter, or used fresh during the summer. (It is also often available fresh in the winter months, even beneath the snow!)
Plantain is very high in beta carotene (A) and calcium. It also provides ascorbic acid (C), and vitamin K. Among the more notable chemicals found in plantain are allantion, apigenin, aucubin, baicalein, linoleic acid, oleanolic acid, sorbitol, and tannin. Together these constituents are thought to give plantain mild anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antihemorrhagic, and expectorant actions. Acubin has been reported in the Journal Of Toxicology as a powerful anti-toxin. Allantoin has been proved to promote wound healing, speed up cell regeneration, and have skin-softening effects.
Modern medical research is proving to uphold many of the historical uses of plantain - especially as a wound healer, and as a treament for lung conditions such as bronchitis or asthma. Medicinally, plantain is astringent, demulcent, emollient, cooling, vulnerary, expectorant, antimicrobial, antiviral, antitoxin, and diuretic. Plantain is approved by the German Commission E (a sort of German "FDA" that studies and regulates herbs and herbal uses) for internal use to ease coughs and mucous membrane irritation associated with upper respiratory tract infections as well as topical use for skin inflammations. Two Bulgarian clinical trials have suggested that plantain may be effective in the treatment of chronic bronchitis.
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