Plantain: The Plant that Followed Every Road to Find Her Lover

An amazing plant for your herbal first aid kit

Plantain is a plant that’s nearly as ubiquitous as dandelion, but it’s one that most people are much less familiar with. In fact, most of the time when I talk about plantain, people think of the delicious banana-like fruit that is often fried. The plantain I am talking about is, admittedly, less tasty, but contains powerful medicine. In fact, it has been used medicinally since at least Ancient Greece, so it’s worth getting to know better. 

Plantain (either fresh or in salve form) is a wonderful addition to an herbal first aid kit. It can be used for insect bites and stings, burns, and as a topical antibiotic. 

Identification

There are 265 species in the plantain genus (called Plantago). There are two that live in my yard: Broad-leaf plantain (Plantago major) and Long-leaf plantain (Plantago lanceolata). Broad-leafed plantain (Plantago major) is very common, I have seen it everywhere I have traveled in North America except arid parts of the West. It is native to Europe and Asia, but has naturalized throughout Eastern North America, in fact, one of its nicknames is “White Man’s Footsteps” since the presence of Greater Plantain (there are other species of Plantain that are native to North America) was one way to tell whether Europeans had arrived in a given location. 

Broad-leaf plantain (Plantago major)

It has a quite distinctive appearance with a rounded leaf and multiple linear veins through the leaf. That said, a picture is worth more than a thousand words when it comes to describing what a plant looks like. 

Long-leaf plantain, also called ribwort (Plantago lanceolata) has a more linear or stretched out oval shaped leaf, with similar linear veins. 

Narrow-leaf plantain (Plantago lanceolata)

Some think that Long-leaf plantain is more effective for internal uses and Broad-leaf plantain is more effective for external. I don’t have enough experience to verify that. 

Food uses

Plantain leaves and seeds are edible. Though neither are tasty enough to write home about, both have their uses. The leaves are much better when they are young, as they get older they get stringy and tough, which will be easy to tell when you pick them. The seeds don’t taste like much, but can be a nice addition of fiber when needed. 

That said, in season, it is very easy to pick large quantities of both plantain leaf and seed. It is not a tedious plant to gather. 

Nutritional Value

Plantain leaf is rich in Vitamin A, C, and K, potassium, and magnesium. It is a decent source of protein for a leaf. 

Plantain seed is rich in fiber. In fact, Plantago relative, Plantago ovata (blond plantain), is the source of psyllium used in Metamucil. To be honest, my main use for it is to sneak it into smoothies when my children have been constipated. 

Favorite Recipes

To be totally honest, Plantain is not my favorite wild green to eat. In my opinion, it’s best mixed with other greens. I stumbled upon a recipe for wild greens kimchi that I’m excited to try. I think you could make it with any kimchi recipe, just use 2 parts wild greens to 1 part cabbage instead of all cabbage (e.g. the recipe I have uses 3 cups of wild greens and 1.5 cups cabbage. I would mix plantain with Yellow Dock, Dandelion, maybe some wild mustard in your area (it might be a nice use for the invasive garlic mustard, but I have not tried that and some of my garlic mustard experiments were not delicious). 

You can definitely mix Plantain into a salad with other greens or the wild greens smoothie I described last month, but I wouldn’t use only plantain. If you are struggling with constipation, maybe toss in a tablespoon of the seeds too (they don’t really have any flavor that I can tell). 

One way I have enjoyed Plantain “straight” was to treat it like seaweed: 

The recipe I use doesn’t specify the amount, but I’d probably try to get a big handful of broadleaf plantain leaves per serving. Recipe from The New Wildcrafted Cuisine

1. Clean the young leaves and place in boiling water for 3.5 minutes. 

2. Remove quickly and place in ice water. 

3. Remove the leaves after several minutes and place into a bowl

4. Mix 1 Tbsp sesame oil, 1 Tbsp soy cause, 1 chopped clove of garlic. 

5. Toss oil mixture with leaves, add salt if needed

6. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving. 

Medicinal Uses

I tend to walk around barefoot a lot and be a little reckless with handling thorny plants, so my favorite use for plantain is to draw out anything embedded in the skin. I have heard it even works for glass shards. Like I said, I’ve had pretty great luck using it for thorns. You can either use a spit poultice (chew up the leaf a few times and apply to the affected area), salve, or tincture. 

Here are some other uses I learned from my herbalism teacher, Heather Mashuga and Steven Martyn: 

1. General: 

• Has antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic properties 

• Heals membranes throughout the body

2. Skin:

• Salve can calm eczema, dry skin, chapped lips

• Spit poultice or salve for insect bites and stings

• Clears skin infections like ingrown hairs, boils or pimples

• Helps to absorb or extrude small foreign bodies in the skin

• Helps to heal burns and wounds

• Stops bleeding

• Can soothe rashes including diaper rash and shingles

3. Ear, Nose, and Throat: 

• Tincture can help with sinus infections/inflammation and hayfever

• Tincture can calm sore throats

4. Kidney and Bladder:

• Can calm foul-smelling, cloudy, or bloody urine due to inflammation

• Diuretic

5. Gastrointestinal: 

• Soothes inflammation in the colon

• Calms symptoms related to ulcers, leaky gut, ulcerative colitis and diarrhea

• Some Native Americans used it for intestinal parasites

6. Toxicology: Historically used for snake and scorpion bites

7. Oncology: Kills some cancer cell lines, including melanoma

8. Lung: Clears mucus, calms breathing issues

Medical Literature

As usual, I do my level best to “de-jargon” my writing about the medical literature. If you don’t understand my “translation”, please ask! 

Immune system: Chemicals within plantain (which were obtained through hot water extract, aka tea) stimulate the immune system, which leads to anti-viral, anti-leukemia, and other anti-cancer properties. Interestingly, higher concentrations of plantain inhibited the immune system. This echoes a tenant of herbalism, which is that at high concentrations plants can “cause what they cure”, so herbal medicine is definitely not a “more is more” kind of realm. Hot and cold water extracts plantain leaves and seeds (I think they used what is called a dual extract, where they pull the beneficial chemicals out with alcohol first, then water afterward, then combine the two extracts) were found to have antioxidant effects. Chemicals in Plantain can induce cancer cell death and inhibit growth of breast cancer and melanoma cells.  

Antimicrobial: Alcohol extract (tincture) of plantain leaf or seed has antibacterial activity against dozens types of bacteria that are among the most common causes of human disease including E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (which is particularly important because all of these are facing increased antibiotic resistance and the latter in particular is quite challenging it is to treat with antibiotics). Interestingly, Plantain can decrease expression of a gene in Pseudomonas that produces toxin. 

Anti-inflammatory: Plantain has similar anti-inflammation effects as sodium salicylate, which is the salt form of aspirin rather than the acid form, and better performance for chronic inflammation. Plantain extract prevents inflammation of the skin of the ear (dermatitis). Its effect was similar to over the counter hydrocortisone. Both water and alcohol extracts decrease inflammation in the cells lining the mouth. Chemicals found in plantain inhibit COX-2, which is also the way medications like celecoxib (Celebrex) work. 

Cardiovascular: Plantain contains a chemical that inhibits angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE). If you have ever heard of the blood pressure medications ACE-inhibitors, this would have the same physiological effect. ACE-inhibitors can cause worsening kidney function in a not insignificant number of patients. Because one study showed that Plantain protects the kidneys from injury due to a chemotherapy medication called cisplatin, I suspect Plantain is safer for kidneys than most ACE inhibitors, but there have not been head to head research trials. There is a very old (1960s) Russian study that suggests that plantain can prevent the development of atherosclerosis (narrowing and hardening of the arteries of the hearts), which is a key risk factor for heart attacks. Old Russian articles are not on the internet, so I was not able to independently review it. There is also a 25 year old Mexican article that suggests that plantain seeds can lower blood sugar that is also not on the internet. 

Lung: Plantain inhibits mast-cell degranulation, a part of the body’s inflammatory response that contributes to asthma and allergies. Animal studies also suggest that plantain protects against pneumococcal pneumonia and chronic bronchitis (the original article about chronic bronchitis was written in Bulgarian, so I was not able to review that one beyond the abstract in English).  

Gastrointestinal: Plantain is effective at preventing the occurrence of ulcers. This appears to be related to decrease in both the volume and acidity of gastric fluids. In one study, 51 patients with ulcerative colitis were treated with 3.6 g of roasted plantain seed compared to roasted wheat flour. The plantain seed group has significantly less reflux, stomach pain, visible blood in stool, anal pain, and abdominal distension. Plantain leaf has also been shown to be effective in ulcerative colitis, in animal studies. It decreases the number of ulcers present as well as decreasing levels of multiple markers of inflammation in the body. 

Liver: In one study on animals, seeds of Plantago major, reduced liver enzymes AST and ALT. These are enzymes that often become elevated when the liver is injured. There is some evidence that Plantain can reduce or prevent the inflammatory response caused by Tylenol overdose. 

Kidney: Plantain was compared to allopurinol and potassium citrate in the formation of calcium oxalate kidney stones. To be honest, I have never heard of either of these medications being used to prevent kidney stones here in the US, so I am not sure this is an ideally designed study. This study took place in Malaysia, so practice could be quite different. That said, plantain was found to be more effective than either medication at preventing the formation of stones or preventing the growth of stones. Plantain protects against kidney injury due to cisplatin and adriamycin (both chemotherapy medications). 

Skin: A water-based extract of plantain (again, this is basically tea) was compared to Cetirizine syrup (Zyrtec) in the treatment of hives. Patients treated with plantain showed a better response to treatment and higher recovery rate than those who were treated with cetirizine. There were also no side effects reported. In animal studies, Plantain was found to be as effective as silver sulfadiazine (a common antibacterial paste applied to wounds) at days 7 and 14 and superior at day 21 of healing. It appears that water based extracts are most effective for wound-healing and decreased inflammation. Plantain extract topical gel was found to accelerate healing of diabetic foot ulcers and pressure ulcers compared with the standard of care. A gel of extract of plantain leaves and roots increase the percentage of wound closed and accelerated healing time. Plantain is able to do this by reducing bacterial grown and stimulating fibroblast (wound healing cell) growth.  

Pain: Extracts of plantain leaves and seeds decreased sensitivity to pain in mice. 

Adverse reactions: Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and skin inflammation may occur after use of Plantain, but is generally considered quite safe. Rarely, in situations of overdose, anaphylactic reaction can occur. 

Toxicity: Up to 15 g per day of the dried powdered herb is considered safe. This seems like a very large amount of powdered herb, so should not be problematic to stay less than this dose.  

It is noteworthy that the vast majority of these articles were produced outside of the US and Europe. Iranian doctors in particular have written a great deal about Plantain, but there are also articles from Turkey, Egypt, Malaysia and China. This may impact the applicability of the studies. On the other hand, I think it says a lot that with our vast research budgets in the US and Europe that these cheap, easily available, and safe treatment options are overlooked. 

Ecosystem Services

Because plantain is a very low-profile plant, it is tough. It can handle foot traffic and tire traffic. It is often the only plant growing in the gravel driveway on a farm. It is one of the few plants that can grow in really compacted soil and its fibrous roots are able to loosen it up to make it more hospitable to other species. Some call it an invasive species, but in my observation, once the soil quality improves other species can outcompete plantain because of its low profile. 

Plantain has the ability to heal soil contaminated by copper, lead, zinc, cadmium, chromium, and nickel. 

They are a key food source for insects, including bees and butterflies. However, this is likely more true in Europe and Asia, where these types of plantain are native, than in the US. Though there are some types of Plantago species that are native to the US, I am not familiar with them because they are less prolific. 

On dairy farms, plantain reduces nitrate leaching by 20-60%. Nitrate leaching is when heavy rains cause nitrates to sink far enough into the soil that they can no longer be utilized by plants. Preventing this also reduces nitric oxide emissions, which impact visibility, breathing, acid rain, and the earth’s temperature. 

Folklore

I love the story of how Plantain came to cover all of the temperate places in the world that humans have traveled to. Susan Wittig Albert says: 

The mythic explanation for plantain’s footloose habit is a romantic one. The plantain is said to have once been a maiden who gave her heart to a wayfaring man. Anxious for his return, she waited faithfully beside the roadway, weeping. One day, the goddess Demeter walked past and heard the maiden’s sad story.

“Well,” she said in a reasonable tone, “if you feel that way about it, why don’t you go look for him?” With a wave of her hand, the goddess transformed the maiden into a small green plantain, naming her from the Latin word for “foot.” And because the plantain would always be underfoot and in danger, Demeter made her immortal. And then she sent the little green plantain on her way, commanding her to follow every road in the world until she found her lover.

Wittig also shares a poem from the 10th century that describes Plantain (also known as way broad) in heroic language: 

And you way broad, Mother of plants
Over you carts creaked
Over you queens rode
Over you brides bridalled
Over you bulls breathed.
All these you withstood
And strongly resisted,
As you also withstand
Venomous and vile things
And all loathly ones
That rove through the land.

In Devon, they believed that once every seven years, Plantain turned into a cuckoo and flew away.

Here’s another great story about Plantain from a Farmer’s Almanac in 18th century New England, that shows real medicinal use of Plantain: 

A toad was seen fighting with a spider in Rhode-Island; and when the former was bit, it hopped to a plantain leaf, bit off a piece, and then engaged with the spider again. After this had been repeated sundry times, a spectator pulled up the plantain, and put it out of the way. The toad, on being bit again, jumped to where the plantain had stood; and as it was not to be found, she hopped round several times, turned over on her back, swelled up, and died immediately. This is an evident demonstration that the juice of the plantain is an antidote against the bites of those venomous insects.

Plantain is one of the nine sacred herbs in the Anglo-Saxon medical text, Lacnunga. In Ireland, plantain is associated with St. Patrick. 

If you’re interested in more stories, there are a few more here to get you started.

Plant Spirit Medicine

Eliot Cowan writes about his experience with Plantain in his book, Plant Spirit Medicine. Plantain was the first plant he ever interacted with in dreams. She appeared to him as a sort of green fairy with a magic wand. She told him that plantain is a gentle, but powerful purifier of the soul. “She could bring purity and sparkle where old filth had polluted the mind.” 

Flower Essence

Plantain flower essence helps to release bitterness and resentment. 

Author’s Note: If you have questions about Plant Spirit Medicine or Flower Essences please check out last month’s article where I go into a bit more detail or feel free to ask in the comments. 

Magical uses

Plantain is used to bring protection to the home and car. It is also used to ward off nightmares and fevers. Plantain and/or specifically plantain root is said to protect against snakebite. 

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Author’s note: Reviewing the medical literature for these plants is great fun AND takes quite a bit of time. Because the knowledge I’m sharing here has a bit more practical use and takes more time than me talking about my feelings I plan to open The Nettle Witch, MD up for paid subscriptions. I won’t be putting anything behind the paywall because I want all of this information to be available to anyone who will use it, but if you find it valuable and are willing to support my work, I’d be honored. I also wanted to give a heads up to anyone who had pledged a paid subscription so they can change their pledge if their financial situation has changed. Thank you so much!