Plantain: (Plantago major )
Plantago major (Plantain) is an herbaceous perennial plant with a rosette of leaves 15–30 cm in diameter.
Each leaf is oval-shaped, 5–20 cm long and 4–9 cm broad, rarely much larger, with an acute apex and a smooth margin; there are five to nine conspicuous veins. The flowers are small, greenish-brown with purple stamens, produced in a dense spike 5–15 cm long on top of a stem 13–15 cm tall.
Propagation:
Plantain is wind-pollinated, and propagates primarily by seeds, which are held on the long, narrow spikes which rise well above the foliage. Each plant can produce up to 20,000 seeds, which are very small and oval-shaped, with a bitter taste.
Edibles:
The leaves are edible as a salad green when young and tender, but they quickly become tough and fibrous as they get older. The older leaves can be cooked in stews.
The seeds are so small that they are tedious to gather, but they can be ground into a flour substitute or extende.
The leaves of the equally ubiquitous narrow-leaf plantain, (Plantago lanceolata), also are edible when young.
Nutrition:
The leaves contain calcium and other minerals, with 100 grams of plantain containing approximately the same amount of vitamin A as a large carrot.
The leaves contain calcium, monoterpene alkaloids, glycosides, sugars, triterpenes, fixed oil, linoleic acid and tannins. Its seeds are high in mucilage which, when eaten, makes them effective as an aid to reducing LDL cholesterol levels and triglycerides.
Medicinal Uses:
Plantain contains many bioactive compounds, including allantoin, aucubin, ursolic acid, flavonoids, and asperuloside. Scientific studies have shown that plantain extract has a wide range of biological effects, including "wound healing activity, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antioxidant, weak antibiotic, immuno modulating and antiulcerogenic activity".
For millennia, poultices of plantain leaves have been applied to wounds, sores, and stings to promote healing. The active constituents are the anti-microbial compound aucubin, the cell-growth promoter allantoin, a large amount of soothing mucilage, flavonoids, caffeic acid derivatives, and alcohols in the wax on the leaf surface. The root of plantain was also traditionally used to treat wounds, as well as to treat fever and respiratory infections.
Due to its astringent properties, a tea of plantain leaves can be ingested to treat diarrhea or dysentery.
Due to the high vitamin and mineral content, plantain tea simultaneously replenishes the nutrients lost as a result of diarrhea.
Adding fresh plantain seeds or flower heads to a tea will act as an effective lubricating and bulking laxative and soothe raw, sore throats.
When ingested, the aucubin in plantain leaves, leads to increased uric acid excretion from the kidneys, and could be useful in treating gout.
