First Weed - Plantain© Barbara Hall
Mar 9, 1999
With March in the gardening dept of Suite101 looking at the garden primers, I thought I'd start with a weed SO common that I would REALLY like to hear from anyone who has NEVER met one!
Comon, let's go, out here in the lawn, here on the roadside, right over there in the crack in the sidewalk. The Native Americans called it White Man's Foot as it seemed to spring up just EVERYWHERE that the settlers touched down, but they soon recognized its worth as food and medicine. Now don't EVEN tell me you don't recognize it..... Yeah, THAT weed. We're talking about Plantain, and I don't mean little bananas. Actually the genus name means 'sole of the foot' which speaks of the leaf shape. And leathery leaves they are, with those VERY prominent veins running lengthwise. Then there are the very distinct seed stalks which are also the flower stalks, but the flowers themselves are so microscopic that it's hard to tell just when it's in flower. The one I am speaking of is Plantago major, the broad-leafed plantain. There is another variety, Plantago lanceolata (narrow or lance-leafed plantain) that has similar properties but a rather different-looking flower. (scroll down to the third photo) As a little kid I spent bizarre amounts of time 'harvesting' and storing the seeds like I thought it was my JOB - like I thought I was going to make flour out of them, but no one had invented the Easy-Grind Flour Mill for little kids yet. Introduce every little kid you know to this one. Little kids are plagued with bug bites, and lawns are 'plagued' with Plantain. Good combo. Everybody needs to know that you can pull off a leaf, bruise it with your thumbnail and press it onto a mosquito bite to ease the itch. You didn't know that, did you? Let's go a step further. Quick thinking and a bruised plantain leaf CAN, if applied in a split second, neutralize a beesting, even a potentially allergic one. (But ALWAYS be working on plans B, C & D with allergic bee stings as the reaction can be swift and deadly.)
These same leaves can be harvested and whizzed around in the blender with some water and a bit of witch hazel. Let them sit for an hour or so and then strain and put into ice-cube trays in the freezer. (LABEL them, you'll never remember WHICH green ice cubes they are!) Running one of these plantain cubes over a case of poison ivy can be soothing indeed. Add some jewelweed and you have two of my Five Buddies in a Blender. (Comfrey, Chickweed and Burdock are the other three).
Go To Page:
1
2
3
The copyright of the article First Weed - Plantain in Weeds & Wild Plants is owned by . Permission to republish First Weed - Plantain in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
|
