Plantain, not to be confused with the banana type fruit, also called Plantain, is a plant which can be found almost anywhere. In fact, if you’re not living in the city, it’s hard not to bump into it.

• Medicinal Uses:

Allantoin: This chemical is an anti-inflammatory good for wound healing and auto-immune diseases. (Source) Interestingly still, allantoin is an ingredient in a few cosmetic creams because of its cell growth stimulation properties and can also be found in creams for nappy rash in babies (see recipe section later in this article).
Flavonoids: Studies have found a variety of medicinal uses of flavonoids, including anti-microbial (including anti-virus, bacteria and fungus), and anti-diarrheal (Studies)
Phenolic compounds: These are another group of chemical compounds which have anti-oxidant properties useful for a wide variety of conditions (such as prostatitis).
The compounds in Plantain make it a highly viable plant for medicinal purposes when no modern medicine is available.

• A Plantain Poultice

This recipe uses the anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial activity of the Plantain. It is great for cuts, sores and insect bites, including the bite of the brown recluse spider.

• Take a handful of Plantain leaves

Mash the leaves (or better still chew them, our saliva can help release the active ingredient for the poultice – if you do this, don’t swallow the juice as you need that for the poultice)
Warm the resulting mash in your hand and place this on the affected area
As an alternative, you can use the leaves from a Plantain tea (see Plantain tea recipe below) and use this instead as the poultice.

One of the things that make this weed so amazing is not just the medicinal properties it has but also the antiviral and antifungus properties as well. Keep in mind too that this weed can help treat the bite of a brown recluse spider so if you are out in the wild and get bite you may want to start looking for this plant ASAP!

There’s a lot more information on this important plant; if you’d like to learn more, read more at Ask A Prepper.