Plantain is a readily available herb which has anti-inflammatory values, is rich in tannin that draws tissues together to stop bleeding, and allantoin, a compound which helps to repair injured skin cells. Though perhaps it's most practical day-to-day use is in it's unmatched treatment of insect stings. Here's how to identify plantain. I learned about plantain when I was a young boy from an older organic farmer. He described to me his first job as a tree trimmer. The old man that he worked for would climb the tree and saw off limbs to be collected at the bottom by my friend. One day,the old man made a mistake while cutting, and sank the chainsaw into the inside of his thigh. They lowered the old man back down to the ground, and he immediately instructed my friend to start collecting plantain. The old man chewed handfuls of the plantain and begun stuffing them into his wound. To my friends amazement, the wound stopped bleeding. He drove the old man home, where his wife would stitch his wound, not expecting to see him back to work for some time, if ever. The man was back to work 3 weeks later, and that "weed" that grows in our yard had saved his life. I started this article with that story because I think that it explains the MOST beneficial, possibly life-saving effect of the herb. Now lets move on to daily practical uses. Plantain is unmatched by any store-bought treatment for insect stings, poison ivy, minor scrapes, insect bites (including ticks and spiders, but I hear it works for mosquitoes too), and minor burns. I live on an organic farm. There are bees, wasps, hornets, bumblebees, carpenter bees, and every other sort of thing that flies and stings. The first time I used plantain on an insect sting, I was no longer afraid of them. Ok, so I won't lie. It hurts getting stung by a wasp, but the part I always dreaded was the swelling, burning, itching aftermath of the whole ordeal. With plantain, what would have been a painful swollen lump on your skin, is reduced to a tiny pink dot that might itch, just a little, for a couple of days. It's simple enough to use. Just pull a few leaves. Tear and crush them until they start to expel juice. Hold the crushed plantain against the Sting for about ten minutes. That's it. This same poultice can be used to draw the oil out of an area affected by poison ivy, pull a splinter right out of your skin, or help to heal minor burns, cuts, and scratches in record time. Oh yeah, and you can eat it. Plantain is rich in magnesium, vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin K. You'll only want to eat the smallest leaves as the larger ones become stringy and bitter in taste. I would compare the flavor to Swiss chard. Also, the seeds can be dried, ground, and used to make bread or pancakes. For all of these reasons, I'd have to put plantain in my top five favorite wild plants. I hope you've enjoyed this article. Check back often as we will be covering all types of wild plants over the next few weeks.

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