The tincture is nearly ready to go – another 6 days. I’ve been shaking twice a day and whispering loving words to it. It’s an amazing plant – and everywhere I go now, even in central Edinburgh, I see it peeping up in lawns, at the side of pavements, by walls and pathways, all along the Waters of Leith and the canal, and especially up on the Salisbury Crags and Arthur’s Seat, which is where I harvested mine.
I’ve been doing a little more research into its properties and characterictics – when I harvested it on Arthur’s Seat, all I could remember was Kym (Murden’s) refrain on my one day herbal medicine extravaganza with her about how amazing plantain is! So ‘Thank You’ Kym 
No wonder plantain, or ribwort, has been a major component of the home apothecary for so long – it has so many uses. A selection: it’s a soothing expectorant and antispasmodic for coughs and bronchial congestion, promotes lung tissue repair through the silica it contains, is mildly antiseptic and used in colds, tonsilitis and chest infections. good for relieving catarrh and sinusitis, the mucilage soothes the cough reflex. It’s good for bringing up old, stuck phlegm (too much information?) and for hot dry coughs.
For digestive problems it is equally soothing and antispasmodic, also astringent, so good for irritation and inflammation in stomach and bowels, also for gastritis, diarrhoea and colitis. Apparently it’s also very good for haemorrhoids. It’s astringent properties are used in excessive menstrual bleeding.
Its antiviral properties make it useful against the herpes virus and adenoviruses and excellent for urinary tract infections.
Plantain also… does this ever end?… is a refrigerant, which means that it reduces high fevers and clears toxins.
Externally it’s magic for insect bites and stings (due to its antihistamine properties) and for cuts, bruises and grazes. Rub a few leaves to bruise them and put them straight on the spot.
It’s one of the few herbs that benefit from being dried at a slightly higher temperature than others, up to 40 – 50 degrees C, after bruising to release some of the fluid from the leaves. I may try the oven… never dried herbs in the oven before, I have always used either the airing cupboard, the boiler cupboard, or just hung them up to dry from the ceiling. I’m not sure any of those (certainly not the ceiling!) get to 50C.
