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The Healing power of herbs – Ceres Esplan

Plantain (Plantago major)  Cuckoo’s Bread, Englishman’s Foot or White Man’s Foot, Snakeweed, Hammerwort.

This common weed often appears in gardens as well as growing in the country and in towns all over the world.  It seems to have earned itself one of its commonest popular names of Englishman’s or White Man’s Foot because the natives reckoned that it always seemed to appear wherever colonists trod

This common Plantain has many virtues as a useful herb.  It can be applied externally and is also still prescribed as a helpful tea making herb – one ounce of the plant should be infused in one pint of boiling water.

It should be taken in wineglassful doses three of four times a day for diarrhoea and haemorrhoids.

It has a soothing effect on toothaches if sipped and held in the mouth.  It is also said to discourage smoking if taken this way.

Externally, Plantain is helpful as a styptic, an astringent and a lotion for sunburn.  Like a Dock leaf’s juice, a crushed leaf or two will take the sting away from nettle burns and insect bites.

The juice, when expressed in a juicer, is a wonderful healer for all wounds, even the most stubborn ulcers, as well as being good to make a face washing lotion, when diluted.