I want to tell you about one of my favorite plants today.
It has so many varied healing properties, I won’t even be able to cover them all here.
The part that flabbergasts me is that people consider this plant a weed.
People use poisons to try to get rid of this plant…
Poisons that harm us and the environment… all to get rid of this amazing healing plant.
In an effort to reverse this lunacy, let’s talk about the amazing healing plant – the broadleaf plantain (plantago major).
The healing power of broadleaf plantain has been used for a long time in various cultures.
Did you know a poultice with these leaves can help draw out venom?
If someone has a bad sting or bite, especially if we don’t know what caused it, we put a poultice of broadleaf plantain leaves on it.
In the wild, that would mean chew up the leaves and put them on.
At home we just crush it and add a little bit of water (when using dried leaves) and put that on the bite / sting.
We ALWAYS have plantain on hand for this reason.
There was a hiker who was bitten by a venomous snake while he was in the middle of nowhere, and thanks to the broadleaf plantain, he lived.
What else can broadleaf plantain (usually just called plantain) do:
- Has been used to help with epilepsy
- Helpful with eye issues such as conjunctivitis, eye sores, day blindness
- Can help with earaches, halitosis, oral lesions, gingivitis, tonsillitis
- Supportive for lung issues including asthma, tuberculosis, lesions
- Great for upper and lower gastrointestinal bleeding, dysentery, stomachache, hemorrhoids, dyspepsia, constipation
- Supports wound healing, malignant burns, pruritus, fistulas
- Supportive of liver and spleen
Can it do more than this? Yes!
But let’s look at how you can use this wonderful plant.
First off, you only want to harvest when no herbicides or pesticides have been used.
We waited several years before we started harvesting in our gardens because we didn’t know what was used before we bought the property.
But you can also order plantain online.
I like Mountain Rose Herbs for herbs
They have plantain available as extracts, as dried leaves, seeds, powder, and more.
You can use plantain as a poultice (as described above), or as a tea, tincture, infused oil…
When I use it for tea, I do tend to mix it with other herbs depending on need or taste preference.
So, with this much healing in one little plant, doesn’t it seem insane to call broadleaf plantain a weed?