Botanical Name: Plantago major, P.lanceolata
Common Names: Broadleaf Plantain, Ribwort Plantain.
Also: Greater Plantain & Rat’s Tails (Broadleaf), Birdseed, Healing Blade, Hen-plant, White Man’s Foot, Soldier’s Herb, Snakeweed (Ribwort) Waybread
Gaelic: lus an t’slanuchaidh, slan lus (healing plant)
Scots: curl doddy, fechters
Family: Plantaginaceae
Parts Used: leaves, seeds
Botany & Identification: There are another three species of Plantain native to Britain – Hoary Plantain (P. media) more common in England, Buckshorn Plantain (P.coronopus) and Sea Plantain (P.maritima). The latter two are mainly found around the coast. All five species have similar properties, though this handout will focus on the two most commonly found Plantains.
The Plantains are perennial plants forming rosettes of ribbed leaves 5-30cm in length. Flowers form on erect stalks with terminal spikes that can reach 45cm and are produced April-August. Seeds ripen from June.
Flowers are pollinated by wind, flies, and beetles. Ribwort’s flowering stem will often be deeply furrowed and typically covered in fine silky hairs. The inflorescence of Broadleaf Plantain is larger than Ribwort’s, occupying a greater ratio of the whole stem. Ribwort’s smaller heads produce rings of creamy yellow anthers, whereas Greater generates little purple stamens on a much longer head. The seeds are brown when ripe.
Ecology: These resilient plants can be found in many habitats including grasslands, field edges, cultivated ground, roadsides and wastelands. In fact, plantain is so hardy that it can withstand heavy compaction and is often the only species to be found on tracks where other plants cannot survive. The broadleaf species is especially adapted to this and is an indicator species for heavily compacted soil in the UK.
Edibility & Nutrition: Plantain is high in calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and vitamins A, C, and K. The leaves taste a little mushroom-like, and when young can be eaten raw, though some recommend cooking them like spinach to make them more palatable. Ribwort pre-flower buds are moist and crunchy, and also taste strongly of mushrooms. Both lend themselves well to being pureed and made into a dip. Plantain seeds can be gathered and added to meals, or ground into flour to make flat breads etc. The mature seeds of ribwort are lovely and nutty and are high in Vitamin B1.
Growing & Harvesting: Plantains are found almost anywhere there is human habitation. Broadleaf plantain grows on paths and tracks, seeming to thrive on being downtrodden and is in fact an indicator plant for severely compacted soils. As perennials, the Plantains will come back year after year and often produce abundant seed. For first aid use, leaves can be harvested at any time of year. For making medicine to preserve, gather the leaves during the summer months and dry them on a drying rack. Be careful handling the leaves as bruised ones will turn black once dried. These can still be used but will be less potent. Harvest the seeds when they are ripe, picking the heads and laying them out on a drying rack, before stripping the seeds off the stalks for storage.
Constituents: Mucilage, tannins, flavonoids, allantoin (speeds tissue healing), Glycosides including aucubin (slows the growth of some bacteria), acids including Vitamin C, sugars, fixed oils, bitters and minerals potassium and calcium.
Energetics & Qualities: Cooling, Moistening, Softening, Astringing
Tastes: Leaf: slightly Bitter, Astringent & Sweet.
Flower bud: mushroom
Medicinal Actions:
Foundational: Astringent, Demulcent,
Primary: Diuretic, Expectorant, Vulnerary
Secondary: Analgesic, Anti-inflammatory, Anti-Microbial
Uses: ‘This little plant is as useful as it is common’ – Wood
One of the great virtues of plantain is that it is both astringent and mucilaginous (the latter giving the subtle sweet taste to the herb). At first this can seem contradictory, as astringency dries tissues and mucilage moistens them, but this somewhat uncommon combination of the two properties allow the herb to be incredibly useful in healing many ailments of the mucosal membranes in many areas of the body. Read on!
A useful antihistamine:
- One of Western Herbalism’s primary topical healing agents. Ribwort plantain is the number one hedgerow remedy for insect stings and bites, many regarding it better than the dock leaf for nettle stings. Greater Plantain also works but the leaves are not as juicy. Crush the leaf and rub onto the afflicted area for immediate relief.
- This antihistamine effect is also beneficial for other allergies such as hay fever.
A classic vulnerary:
- Perhaps the most common use of plantain is as a vulnerary herb. It even features twice as a healer of broken bones in Shakespeare’s writing.
- The astringency in plantain helps to stop bleeding. Externally this is useful with cuts, scrapes and ailments such as haemorrhoids, and internal use benefits the urinary tract and digestive system.
Clears heat & inflammation:
- Internally, plantain modulates inflammation most notably in the respiratory, digestive & urinary systems, helping the body to keep this necessary response in check so it isn’t overly inflamed.
- The Brunton-Seals have successfully treated radiation burn with the fresh juice and slippery elm powder.
- A poultice can be used to reduce pain and inflammation in varicose veins and eczema, burns, boils and eczema.
- The Broadleaf species was traditionally placed under the soles of the feet to relieve heat and tiredness and plantar fasciitis. In the doctrine of signatures the leaf is said to resemble a round blister, a sign that the cooling, soothing properties can relieve tired feet.
A purifier:
- Wood relates Plantain’s ability of drawing water and nutrients from severely compacted ground to its reputation of being one of the best drawing agents in Western Herbal Medicine. He writes that this signature enables the herb to draw foreign substances from the body.
- The Greeks classified the herb as drying due to its drawing action and ability to close wounds. This combined with its soothing action on the mucous membranes and its pain relieving quality means the herb can be used directly in cases of tooth and gum infections.
- Plantain can draw dirt, pus and venom from wounds, giving it a Native American name Snakeweed – also reflective of the flowering stems of Ribwort Plantain. Its drawing action has been used to treat cases of gangrene and blood poisoning
Soothing to the digestive & respiratory tracts:
- Its cooling, moistening action soothes mucus membranes, useful in the digestive tract, on stomach ulcers, irritable bowel and also for hot dry coughs (respiratory system) and hot conditions in the urinary system.
- The combined therapeutics of the herb being both astringent & demulcent is seen again here in ailments where there is bleeding (requiring astringency to dry them) present with dry, cracked tissues (requiring cooling & moistening therapeutics). Having either of these actions on their own would solve half the problem but wouldn’t be able to remedy the whole complaint.
- The seeds are useful where fibre is required and can help treat constipation and other digestive disorders. P.ovata native to the Middle East and India is sold as psyllium husks, a bulking agent for this purpose.
Moistening expectorant:
- The demulcent property in the herb makes it a useful expectorant for the lungs for dry coughs
- Recommended for chronic bronchitis, helping to bring up old stuck phlegm with its astringent and drawing action
A nourishing diuretic:
- Strengthens the kidneys rather than forcing them to work harder which could weaken them in the long term.
- Used in urinary tract infections and urinary difficulty, especially those that are hot, inflamed, dry and/or with bleeding present. The demulcent and astringent combined effect of plantain allow the mucosal membranes to be cooled, soothed and moistened, and simultaneously toned.
History & Folklore:
- Like many healing traditions, charms and incantations were part of traditional medicine in Scotland, and led to Bessie Smith being found guilty of witchcraft in 1623 as she attempted to cure ‘heart fevers’ with the herb being taken along with a charm spoken aloud.
- To many Native American tribes the plant became known as “white man’s footprint” as it arrived with the European’s and started to grow everywhere they settled. Today it has spread to many places as a result of colonisation
- Plantain is one of the ancient Saxons ‘Nine Sacred Herbs’. Known as a ‘mother of worts’ it is believed that the ‘waybread’ (Wegbrade) in the Nine Herbs Charm is Plantain, although this seems to have been due to its medicinal properties rather than its magical uses.
- Another Anglo-Saxon name was ‘Waybrode’, later ‘Waybread’ as it often grew along the side of paths.
- The classic Latin name Plantago was formed from the Latin word ‘Planta‘ meaning the ‘sole of the foot’.
- In Devon it was often referred to as ‘Cuckoo Bread’ and it was believed that once every seven years it changed into a cuckoo and flew away.
- On treating a rattlesnake or cottonmouth bite in 1860, Dr. Henry Taylorwrites that the flesh should be cut away or burned, ‘but best of all is the application of plantain’
- Children use the flowerheads and stalks of Ribwort Plantain as a pop gun as they can be fired off the stalk.
- The closely related P. psyllium is used today for common psyllium husks. P. asiatica is the primary species used in herbal medicine.
Magical or Ritual Uses: Plantain is under the planetary influence of Venus and is said to be a protective plant for the home and for travellers, especially those going by road where the plant grows. It was believed to be a protective plant being hung in the home for this purpose or carried to protect against the dangers of travel such as snake-bites. In Ireland it is associated with St. Patrick who is also associated with ‘averting snakes’. In Scotland’s Wild Medicine Clare Holohan draws on Plantain’s teachings as it shows us its ability to grow in hard ground, reminding us to respect our own boundaries on a physical and emotional level.
Preparations: The leaf can be used directly on the skin for insect bites, allergic rashes, bleeding, infected cuts and burns. Tea for coughs, irritable bowel and haemorrhoids. Tinctured as a remedy for coughs and bronchitis, and irritable bowel. A syrup of the leaf can be used for coughs and sore throats. Seeds dried and ground and added to food, for fibre uses. Combines well with Elderflower (Sambucus nigra) and Mint (Mentha spp) as a tea for hay fever.
Tea: 1 tsp of herb made into an infusion, as needed for coughs, taken 3 x daily for stomach complaints
Tincture: 2-3ml, 3 x daily
How we use Plantain in the Co-op: We combine Plantain with Marshmallow leaf, Elderflower, Lemonbalm & Mullein to make our ‘Breathe’ tea blend and have both foraged and harvested lots of the fresh leaf over the years in workshops in community gardens for tea blends and to use in first aid creams. Catriona often adds Plantain to Nettle and Yarrow for seasonal allergy mixes too.
Cautions: none, it is considered to be a particularly safe herb.
References
Thomas Bartram (1998) Bartram’s Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine
Julian Barker (2001) The Medicinal Flora of Britain and Northwest Europe
Julie & Mathew Bruton-Seal (2008) Hedgerow Medicine, Merlin Unwin Books
Tess Darwin (1996) The Scots Herbal, Bell & Bain Ltd.
Mrs Grieve’s Modern Herbal [online] www.botanical.com
David Hoffman (2003) Medical Herbalism, Healing Arts Press
Henriette Kress (2013) Practical Herbs 2
Plants for a Future www.pfaf.org
Sajah Popham (2023) Materia Medica Monthly, www.evolutionaryherbalism.com
Sinclair, L & Holohan, C. (2021) Scotland’s Wild Medicine, Heal Scotland Books
Williamson, E.M. (2003) Potter’s herbal cyclopaedia
Matthew Wood (2008) The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants
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