Plantain is a very useful first-aid herb that can be easily found in suburban gardens or paddocks in the country. You will find it growing in your front lawn as the slender ribwort (Plantago lanceolate), but less commonly the broad-leaved species (Plantago major).

Plantain forms a basal rosette bearing thickly-veined leaves, and has ridged stems which carry clusters of pale white flowers. A tough herb, plantain has a tolerance for all but the most acid soil and can even germinate in dry ground. Wild plantain (Plantago cunnignhamii) was called sago weed by the colonists of Western Australia who made it into ‘sago pudding’ by adding boiling water and sugar to the seeds. The seed from the species Plantago debilis was also mixed with water by the Aboriginals in NSW in order to make a kind of porridge.¹

Plantain has a long history of use as a wound healer, a lung herb and a soothing diuretic. Plantain’s effectiveness as a wound healer is now attributed to the allantoin content of the herb which assists tissue growth. Dioscorides calls it arnoglosson, which means lamb’s tongue, and says that it is good for treating ‘all malignancies and leprous, running, filthy ulcers, and filthy discharges of blood’. He also recommends the juice for treating ear infections, for the digestive tract in cases of dysentery, and the uterus for stemming excessive discharges.²

Rich in mucilage, which is a moist carbohydrate compound that coats tissues, plantain has what we call a demulcent action when eaten. This soothes irritation, excess acidity, injury or ulceration anywhere in the digestive tract. By reflex action, mucilage also soothes irritated respiratory membranes which lead to dry coughs on the one hand, and catarrhal conditions such as sinusitis and hay fever on the other. According to the herbalist Simon Mills, the bowel also has a reflex action to the urinary system and mucilage can therefore help treat renal colic caused by infections and stones.³

Plantain also helps draw toxins from the tissues of the bowel wall during a detox program. Isabel Shipard say that plantain is particularly useful for flushing heavy metals such as mercury from the tissues after being absorbed from amalgam fillings.⁴ For this purpose, as well as to clear other toxic metals from the body, you can combine it with chlorella, coriander or spirulina, while at the same time using liver herbs such as milk thistle or dandelion.

The seeds can be collected and used just like psyllium or slippery elm, as a soothing and toning bulk-laxative, more gentle in its action on the bowel than bran. Used in this way, plantain seeds also have a cholesterol-lowering effect just like oats because the fibre helps prevent bile salts being recycled at the end of the bowel before excretion, and bile salts are made from cholesterol.

As a tea, plantain is useful for treating colds and flu, and can also be dropped lukewarm into the eyes for treating inflamed conjunctiva. Culpepper mentions its use for treating cases of consumption (tuberculosis) in the form of a decoction of root and seeds when there is coughing of blood. He also mentions its use for treating worms, oedema and dysentery just as it was used by the Persians a long time before him.⁵

Modern research has identified many active compounds in plantain including polysaccharides, lipids, caffeic-acid derivatives, flavonoids, iridoid glycosides, terpenoids and alkaloids. The research has confirmed its anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, attributing them to the inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis. It has also been found that this herb has immune-modulatory activity,⁶ which helps to improve defences against bacterial infections in general,⁷ and specifically against the herpes virus.⁸ It also has anticancer properties and is a potent antioxidant.⁹ In addition, plantain inhibits the glycation of proteins, a process which produces advanced glycation end products (AGEs), and is therefore useful in controlling diabetic complications.¹⁰ More directly, it can lower blood sugar levels.¹¹

For external use, the leaves are bruised or mashed and made into a poultice, as described in King’s American Dispensatory. This can soothe the bites of snakes, spiders and insects because it draws out the venom just like comfrey. It also stops bleeding from wounds, a class of herbs we call haemostatic.¹² The haemostatic nature of plantain can be seen immediately if you cut yourself and pick a couple of leaves, chew them to a pulp and apply them to the cut. A cream made with olive oil and beeswax is good for treating piles and fissures. Mathew Wood also says that plantain is restorative to the damaged nerves in wounds, the rib-like fibres in the leaf hint at this role under the Doctrine Of Signatures.¹³

Plantain can also be placed as a wad between the gum and cheek to soothe a sore tooth as Dioscorides mentions almost two thousand years ago, and it will help draw infection from the root or gums. William Boericke adds that the tincture, as well as the low homeopathic potencies, is good for the ache of decayed teeth which produce sharp reflex pains to the temples, lower face, eyeballs and ears. There is often swelling of the cheeks accompanying the toothache and plenty of saliva.¹⁴

1. Low T. Wild Food Plants Of Australia. Angus & Robertson; 1991.
2. Dioscorides P. De Materia Medica. South Africa: Ibidis; 2000.
3. Mills S. The Essential Book Of Herbal Wisdom. England: Arkana; 1991.
4. Shipard I. How Can I Use Herbs In My Daily Life? Nambour: David Stewart; 2003.
5. Culpepper N. Culpepper’s Complete Herbal. London: Richard Evans; 1814.
6. Chiang L-C, Chiang W, Chang M-Y, Lin C-C. In vitro cytotoxic, antiviral and immunomodulatory effects of Plantago major and Plantago asiatica. Am J Chin Med 2003;31:225–34.
7. Hetland G, Samuelsen AB, Løvik M, et al. Protective effect of Plantago major L. Pectin polysaccharide against systemic Streptococcus pneumoniae infection in mice. Scand J Immunol 2000;52:348–55.
8. Chiang LC, Chiang W, Chang MY, Ng LT, Lin CC. Antiviral activity of Plantago major extracts and related compounds in vitro. Antiviral Res 2002;55:53–62.
9. Mello JC, Guimarães NSS, Gonzalez MVD, et al. Hydroxyl scavenging activity accounts for differential antioxidant protection of Plantago major against oxidative toxicity in isolated rat liver mitochondria. J Pharm Pharmacol 2012;64:1177–87.
10. Matsuura N, Aradate T, Kurosaka C, et al. Potent protein glycation inhibition of plantagoside in Plantago major seeds. BioMed Res Int 2014;2014:208539.
11. Jin CB, Noor HM. The Hypoglycaemic effect of Plantago major leaf extract on alloxan-induced diabetic rats. J TROP MED PLANTS 2006;7:175.
12. Felter, Lloyd. King’s American Dispensatory. 18th ed. Cincinnatti: Ohio Valley Co.; 1898.
13. Wood M. The Book Of Herbal Wisdom, Using Plants As Medicines. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books; 1997.
14. Boericke W. Pocket Manual Of Homoeopathic Materia Medica, c. 1927. Delhi: Indian Books & Periodical Publishers; 2007.