wild
Broadleaf plantain
Plantago major
The bandaid that grows underfoot. Poultice for stings, nettle, splinters, and shallow cuts.
- Part used
- Fresh leaves; seeds if you want a fiber tea
- Gather
- Any compacted path, April–frost. Ribbed leaves, rat-tail spike.
- Tea
- Young leaf as a mild tea, or seed heads steeped like a poor man’s psyllium for sluggish bowels.
- Tincture
- Other
- Chew a clean leaf 20 seconds and tape it on. Change when it dries. Oil and salve from wilted leaf.
Recipes
Plantain (or self-heal) poultice
Chew or mash a clean leaf. Tape it on. The oldest first-aid in the yard.
Calendula (or plantain) salve
The cracked-hand, shallow-burn, scraped-knuckle tin. Make it in September.