So,this week I went out to pick some young Plantain leaves for drying for tea.It is a perennial weed that grows pretty much anywhere,its easy to identify and you can harvest from May to August.It has many uses and I will try to list a few that I can think of.
The earliest memories that I have of this plant is when I was a little girl and I got stung by a wasp,my Grandmother picked up a Plantain leaf chewed it up for few seconds to release the juice and then rubbed it on the sting.
USES:
Internally:
Plantain can be used to treat all respiratory system problems like throat mucus,hooping cough,asthma,lung tuberculosis and cold.
Plantain can be used in form of tea,plantain syrup, or you can just chew on the fresh leaves.
Famous Swiss herbalist priest,expert on European herbs and a healer Johann Künzle wrote: ´´The whole plant is being used the root,the stem,the flower and the leaves.Like no other plant it will clean blood,lungs and the stomach and thats why it is good for everybody who is anemic or has bad blood,weak lungs and kidneys,for anybody who is too pale, has spots,dermatitis,or the one who coughs and is still thin as a goat even if you soak him in butter.Plantain helps weakened children,that even thought they eat good still hardly stand on their feet!´´
Externally:
People all over the countryside here in Slovakia have used Plantain for cuts,wounds,stings,eczema,poison ivy,cracked lips and even a poisonous snake bites or bites from animals with rabies(viral disease transmitted by warm blooded animals) when there is not a doctor nearby.
FOLK REMEDIES AND RECIPES:
One remedy claims that if you mix plantain with a little bit of salt and rub it onto your neck it will reduce the so called goiter (swollen thyroid)
Blisters on your feet can be healed simply by putting a few Plantain leaves in your shoes.
Another folk remedy recommends fresh plantain leaves mixed into a paste with marjoram oil (fresh marjoram put in a bottle with olive oil and left in a warm place for 10 days) to be rubbed onto a tumour and covered with a cloth.
Wild thyme(I will write about this herb soon) mixed with equal amount of Plantain and made into a tea is good for people with liver disease and urinary tract infections.
The seeds can be dried and infused in water for a soothing eye lotion, as a laxative, and for intestinal worms in children
Drying the Plantain(never dry the plant on a direct sun,alway cover with a cloth)
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