Image By Dr. Patrick George
Plaintain is a much-loved herb in our home. It’s a wild-growing herb, useful for many skin ailments. Like many of the herbs I use, it can be taken internally as well as applied externally in a variety of different remedies.
Externally, plaintain speeds the healing of scrapes and other wounds. Plaintain also relieves skin inflammation as it heals.
A few years ago, I created an herbal bath tea to help soothe my eczema. Plaintain is one of the few ingredients because it works so well. It also shows up in almost every healing ointment I use.
Plaintain can also be taken as a tea. It soothes the throat and prevents excess coughing. The first time I used this for a cough, I noticed that the tickle in my throat was gone almost immediately.
Plaintain’s anti-inflammatory properties work inside the body as well, as it soothes sore throats.
Last winter, my family battled an illness that left them with high fevers, sore throats and lots of coughing. I created a tea with lemon balm, plaintain and marshmallow root with a touch of honey. The kids drank it readily and stopped coughing for a while afterward.
To make this tea, you’ll need:
- 1 cup hot water
- 2 tsp plaintain leaf
- 1 tsp lemon balm leaf
- 1 tsp marshmallow root leaf
Mix the herbs together. Steep in the hot water for 5 minutes, then strain and enjoy. (I recommend this tea basket – we use it all the time for a variety of steeping needs).
I do recommend adding a little honey to plaintain tea, unless it’s being paired with a more pleasant-tasting herb like lemon balm. A little drop makes the remedy much easier to take.
How to use it
Plaintain can be combined with other herbs in the form of a tea or tincture. Combined with elderberries, it makes a very effective cough syrup.
Use it as the main herb in a healing ointment or bath tea to soothe inflammation and heal wounds. It can also be applied as a poultice. No known cautions.
Do you use plaintain?
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About Nina Nelson
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Passing this on, yet again! My wife just bought some dried plantains for her to eat, so maybe she’ll extend her new love for plantains a bit further! Thanks!
Mike recently posted..Summer Recap (Part Two): Vacations and Frugal Living
I make a salve out of it with coconut Oil, plantain and bees wax… I am using it on my face adult acne(Roseaca) but it works well on bug bites, scarps, cuts, bruises, Eczema ….My whole family calls it Jan’s green cream…They are regularly giving it away to someone who needs it…and asking me to make them some more..
I love the name! Very cool. Glad you’re sharing the love.
We have just discovered plantain to be a miracle cure for stinging nettle stings. I think I first tried it in desperation after reading this post, so thank you Nina.
I wrote a quick blog post about it and linked to you. I Also found its meant to be good for bee stings. Miracle plant.
Anna recently posted..Stinging Nettle Miracle Cure
Thanks Anna!