Thursday, June 24, 2010

Plantain leaves

So I was doing some research on plantain. The weed, not the banana like fruit. We have a bunch of it growing in our yard. I haven't mowed in about 2 weeks and it needs it...but the chiggers have kept my feet shoe free for a while now so I haven't been able to do. I saw all the plantain and wondered what it was good for because it has to be good for something. Turns out I was right. It is great for all sorts of skin problems like diaper rash, bee stings, bug bites, itchy skin....etc. Someone mentioned that they just take a leaf or two and chew it up then put it on the bug bites. My chigger bites were itching so I ran outside and picked a couple of leaves. Amazing. It almost instantly stopped itching!! This is good stuff! Then I got some hives on my wrist so I ran out and got another leaf for my arm. It took about a full minute to work but it definitely worked. So I looked up a recipe for plantain salve. I will be collecting a bunch of leaves from the plantains this weekend and starting the salve because that is amazing stuff and with all the itching I experience from my hives I will definitely put it to good use! Now I need to find a source of free baby food jars!

Field of plantain...not great pictures since it's dark out, sorry about that. The seed heads are probably familiar to you.

There's a picture of the leaves. You can tell it's plantain because the leaves have several midribs running down the leaf instead of veins forking off the main midrib.


Plantain at work. It does turn the skin slightly green but it's worth it! I just moved it around my foot as needed and it continued to work its magic.

1 comment:

Valerie said...

I have never heard of a different kind of plantain. I guess it's a blessing it was all over your yard, huh? Maybe you can sell some. ?? Glad it helps you!

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