Plantain
Latin Name:
Plantago major
Categories:
Uses:
As medicine
The leaves of the plantain plant are made into a poultice as a painkiller for cuts and bruises and the above ground part of the plant is made into a tea to soothe burns. A leaf that is large enough to cover a cut is used. Fresh leaves are preferred because Ruth said,
When you dry them in the winter, they will [turn to] powder. But you can also make a poultice out of that and do the same thing.
Ruth added,
But in the summer time, you cover the cut with a leaf and crush the rest of the leaves and put it on, whether it's a bruised ankle, twisted ankle, or a cut and it's painful. You make a poultice and apply it to the area.
A tea is made out of the plantain to relieve painful burns especially when the blister from the burns has broken. The blistered area is bathed with plantain tea that has been cooled.
Source: Andre, Alestine, Nan t'aih nakwits'inahtsìh (The Land Gives Us Strength) (2006)
