MyHerbCorner

Posts Tagged ‘plantain’

When David was at Kindergarten I made a wonderful trip through a forest not far from our house.

At the side of the path grew a lot of plantain and I was thinking about our previous blog party were I was writing about plantain.

The forest was beautiful and typical for New Zealand woods were dead trees break down and are nurturing Huhu beetle grubs (click here for a grub picture if interested) or other beetles.

I also found some yummy sweet blackberries (Rubus fruticosus)

And ate a few bland tasting hawthorn berries (Crataegus monogyna) which are a heart tonic.

They are very healthy and I was thinking about the blog party again were Lusach wrote a wonderful post about the use of hawthorn berries (please click here for her post)
I thought maybe hawthorn berries combined with blackberries must make a yummy jelly… at least the combination in my mouth tasted good

By the wayside I also discovered this New Zealand tree (shrub)

The berries sure looked good but I didn’t know what it was so I looked it up at home and found out it is called Karamu (Comprosma robusta) and belongs to the same family like our coffee shrub
In my book ‘Which native Forest Plant?’ by Andrew Crowe I read it was actually experimented in the late 1870′s to use this plant as a substitute for coffee plants. But the seeds were to small and it wasn’t produced in large scale.
What I am excited about is, that this plant can be used as medicine. A decoction of the leaves can be used for kidney troubles and also to reduce fever.
Young shoots infusion was used for bladder stoppage and inflammation.
Maori also used the bark of Karamu for a ‘old gold’ colour dye for there flax clothing.
The bark can be used for a variety of dye colours like yellow to orange, dark red-brown to bright orange and a few bronze shades.
Interesting is also that berries only grow on female shrubs. So were was the man in this forest?
Or don’t they need a male for the females? Guess I have to research some more
And yes! The berries are edible!

On top of my trip was a lonesome pine over looking the valley.

In a small distance I saw Lake Wairarapa and was amazed to see all the trees lined up as wind breakers.

This is really a beautiful spot and I will visit more often

At home some of my hawthorn berries went into a potpourri with a leaf skeleton which my daughter calls ‘fairy wings’.
Happy Autumn everyone!

This is a post for the UK Herbarium blog party with the subject

My herbal treasure in March

Maybe you like to make a cup of plantain tea and sip while you read through the post

One of the first spring herbs is plantain (Plantago lanceolata) which is my most used herb beside yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

It is easily recognized by it’s five veins.

Here in New Zealand we have something like a second spring in March. The grass is getting green again after a hot summer which turned the lawns and meadows brown. Everywhere greens like dandelion, yarrow, chickweed and plantain are sprouting.

If it is spring in your area, harvest plantain now as a blood cleanser and make a cure by drinking a cup of tea first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening over a period of 3 weeks.
At the moment I collect as much  small leaved plantain as I think I will need for the coming winter. Plantain (which is also called Ribwort) is one of my favorite cough syrups. When the seasons change I prevent a cough by giving the kids one spoon of syrup a week. Should they start a running nose or catch a cough they get a spoon three times a day or more often when needed.
By a cough I also treat them with garlic oil in the evening and if all of that doesn’t help I reach for Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis) root (which you can dig out in spring or autumn :- )
Find the recipe of marshmallow syrup here. The preparing method of his syrup is a little bit different then the plantain.

Plantain makes a great medicine against stings and bites.
Since vinegar is antibacterial and also draws the poison out of a sting I combined this two excellent medicines and made a patch of ‘Plantain vinegar’
If you like to do the same just pick enough fresh plantain to fill a jar. You can leave the leaves whole so you can better bandage them onto a sting or chop the herb like I do to apply something more like a poultice.
Fill the jar with vinegar and let infuse at least for a day or until you need it. If you are in the field and need help right away just chew on some plantain leaves and apply them.
From my experience broad leaved plantain (Plantago major) doesn’t do the job as well as his brother the small leaved. In the pic you can see  mostly broad leaved and on the right side some small leaved plantain.

Herbalists use broad leaved plantain to treat kidney stones and urinary tract. So I collect them for tea. They say it works better then the small leaved in this way of use.
Aren’t herbs fascinating? Same family and other duties… sounds human

Plantain is a power herb which contains allot of minerals like calcium, magnesium, zinc and silica as well as vitamin A,C and K.
I don’t know why you can’t find many recipes containing plantain… because I use it all year round. Chop it into a lovely soup or sprinkle it over your dishes, add to salad and use it in dips, pesto or salad dressings.

Here is a recipe to my ‘Welcome Spring soup’

Chop plantain into your burger instead of parsley or saute with onions as a vegetable!

You can also use plantain syrup instead of maple syrup. Here is a link to a recipe which has a high amount of vitamin C in it because of the addition of pine.

Whenever you see plantain, take some home and make tea. It is said that this tea drunken warm with a bit of honey shall be more effective by weakness then ‘cod liver oil’ (Ref: Mit dem Kraeuterpfarrer durchs ganze Jahr, Hermann-Josef Weidinger, 1988, Verlag Niederoesterreichisches Pressehaus, St Poelten – Wien)

Be careful when you want to dry plantain. Every bit of wetness or careless handling (like bruising or squeezing) turns into brown herb when dried which is useless. Best is to collect it when it is really dry and then immediately dry in a dehumidifier.
Actually you can harvest plantain from spring to winter, but it has best leaf quality if you pick it before flowers are forming.
Personally I go with the colour… when it is deep green I am sure it contains a lot of minerals and vitamins

Hope you enjoyed and will try out some of the plantain suggestions…
Have fun!

The M’s are for Mugwort & Maroni
I start with the Maroni which is the German word for chestnut
When I went into the garden (still in pots) I was surprised of the wonderful chestnut plants (or should I say trees?) looking out of a pot beside my nettle

In Autumn I had burrowed 3 chestnuts (before I roasted the others… yummy…) in the hope to get a tree and…  here they are!
Isn’t that cool? What do you think how long it will take until they will produce fruits? Guess I have to wait for a few years

Meanwhile I can tell you my story about the mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)
While mugwort is growing freely in my ‘old country’ (Austria) I couldn’t find it here in my area even if it is invasive in New Zealand. I was already looking for months and even with the help of Getgrowing a NZ garden newsletter I wasn’t successful a few months ago.
BUT I tried again and tadatadaaaa now I was successful!
Soon there will be a lovely mugwort growing in my garden and I am sooooo excited!
A woman sent me also a link to a lovely garden shop which is further north in Hamilton and sells mugwort
I will add ‘Linda’s herbs’ to my links so I know where I will get my herbs for a real big garden. Thanks for the tip Brenna!

Ah yeah, the picture isn’t mugwort of course but I just saw this flower and seed head of plantain (Plantago lanceolata)
The seeds can be roasted for a snack, BUT it would take a long time to get a hand full
Plantain seeds as tea or just carefully chewed act as a bulk laxative and can be used to counter internal worms and parasites.

Being a herb woman is such a fulfilling thing.
Wherever you go you automatically search for herbs.
To know a place means to look who lives there (in this case plants and animals) They tell you a lot of environmental stories and how the people are who walk around there.

Now since Spring arrived in New Zealand looking for herbs is even more enjoyable

Today I came home with a full bag of goodies (some for our rabbit and some for us)
Here is a small example of onion weed, dandelion blossoms and plantain. I even brought home a red clover (Trifolium pratense) with roots to plant in the garden.

The yellow flower petals of dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) went into olive oil for an infusion which I will use as skin cell repair (click here for a link if you like to know more)
I love my yellow coloured fingers and the smell of the pollen!
This time of year dandelion is really bitter and makes a super bitter herb in salads. Even one leaf before a meal or after is enough to give your body a digestive aid.

Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) makes a super cough syrup and my little ones love it. You can use plantain syrup also for baking or in a yogurt. Plantain combined with pine buds which are also ready now is the most best cough syrup in my opinion. Click here for the recipe.

Onion weed (Allium triquetrum) can be used instead of leek, onions or garlic (if you harvest them with the bulbs) It is so invasive that you don’t need to worry if you collect the whole plant. But keep in mind to leave enough ‘Mother plants’ for reproduction. Onion weed will reproduce generous through bulb building and seeds.
I love to chop it and give it on all my savory dishes like this soup

A bunch of onion weed flowers is not only decorative, it is also convenience to have on the table so you can snip off some flowers by your self and eat them.
My Mac and cheese (click here for the recipe) are sure delicious with a decoration of onion weed, parsley and dandelion leaves

So, now I am really hungry and will enjoy my springtime meal
Happy Spring to all my New Zealand friends!

The bottles of yellow dandelion blossom oil are all finished and every day another jar or brown paper bag of dried herbs is getting empty.
Sure there are chickweed (Stellaria media) , cleavers (Galium aparine) and some plantain (Plantago lanceolata) I can gather fresh from the meadows, but they don’t have their intense healing power yet.
I am looking forward to make some yarrow flower essence and also like to experiment with other flower and tree essences this year.

One of this new trees I like to study is alder (Alnus). This little creek is running into a broad space which is full of alders.

That’s why I call this place alders creek

I have used alder bark 20 years ago since it contains salicin. This is a nice anti-inflammatory and for me an alternative for willow or birch.
According to wikipedia recent clinical studies have verified that red alder contains compounds shown to be effective against a variety of tumors (click here for the link).
I am not sure if the leaves will taste nice like the tender beech leaves in Spring so I am looking forward to find out soon.