Common Plantain, like all members of the plantago family, contains a high amount of mucilage, which soothes and cools mucous membranes, while at the same time its astringency helps to relieve diarrhea, excess menstrual flow, hemorrhoids and incontinence in children and adults. It is also used to soothe the lungs while effectively loosening and expelling phlegm and congestion. Plantain also helps to control vaginal and other types of infection, remove obstructions from the liver, kidney and bladder, and possibly help in managing weight control
PLANT DESCRIPTION:
Plantain is an annual or perennial plant that is native to Eurasia and introduced to the New World by early settlers. The plant has been naturalized throughout temperate North America and may be found wild in fields, roadsides, lawns, and waste places, thriving in well-drained soil in full sun and grows from one to two feet in height. Plantain produces a radial rosette of broad, oval leaves and a few densely flowered spikes of greenish-white to greenish-brown flowers that bloom from April to October.
It is frequently called a common weed that will take over a lawn, destroying and replacing the grass that originally occupied the site, but it has been greatly valued since antiquity for it medicinal qualities.
The foliage and seeds are used in herbal medicines. Some of the constituents in Plantain include adenine, mucilage, allantoin, aucubin, apigenin, acids (oleanolic, p-coumaric, salicylic, vanillic, ursolic, cinnamic, ferulic, benzoic, caffeic and chlorogenic), fiber, luteotin, potassium and vitamins C and A.
HISTORY:
It was one of the nine sacred herbs mentioned in the Lacnunga, the most ancient source of Anglo-Saxon medicine, where it was called “The Mother of Herbs.” In Old World tradition, Plantains were used as a remedy for bleeding, cuts, burns, poison ivy, snake bites and inflammations, and a tea made from the seeds was employed to remedy diarrhea, dysentery and bleeding from mucous membranes. Its spread has been thought to follow in the footsteps of the early colonists and their settlements across the continent.
A report from Virginia, in 1687, stated that the Indians called the plant Englishman’s Foot, due to the plant’s habit of growing wherever the White Man created a settlement, giving the plant two of its common names. Longfellow noted in his “Hiawatha’ that wherever the English have taken possession of the soil, the Plantain springs up. Native Americans used Plantain widely and referred to it as “Life Medicine.”
The Shoshones employed it for wounds, diarrhea, and dysentery, and the herb was an antidote for venomous snakebites and a worm remedy in early American domestic medicine. It should be noted that Plantain is not related to the cooking banana of the same name, even though it is a corruption of a Spanish word, plantano, which means “banana or plant/plane tree.” It is one of the large families of plantagos.
The astringency also has a styptic effect when used topically and acts to stanch hemorrhage and ease wounds and bleeding cuts by contracting blood vessels. It makes a fine eyewash for pink eye; and it is also believed to help those who wish to “quit the habit” to stop smoking by including Plantain in a gargle.
Precautions:
None
Dosages:
For Botanical Powder: Take two (2) capsules, three (3) times each day with water at mealtimes.
For Botanical Extract: Take two (2) capsules, one (1) to two (2) times each day with water at mealtimes.