Replied By Gabriele (Limestone, Maine) on 10/11/2008
Hello, ribwort plaintain is safe for any living creature. You would not believe how fast it heals. It's also called soldiers weed- from what I have read in the civil war soldiers used it to treat their wounds. Also attached are two photos of my dogs' wound. Picture 001 is from 1 week ago, the 2nd one is from 2 days ago. All the pink skin is new, and grew within these past 2 weeks. When I adopted Casper 2 weeks ago it was solidly red, and raw, with 3 small skin crafts, the pink ones on the upper edge. My vet see's Casper once a week, the rest of the time I wash the wound and put the cream on it myself. Anyway, when she saw Casper this week, she said: Oh my God! scared me, and I asked, what's wrong Terry? She answered: "It's a good 'oh my god' -- I can't believe how fast it's healing."About Elissa's horse -- with theses leaves I am positive he would heal. Let me know please.
Gabriele
EC: Click here to see Gabriele's photos. Warning -- very disturbing, poor dog!
Replied By Joyce (Joelton, Tn) on 10/11/2008
To all who don't recognize ribwort plantain, I believe the plant she is talking about is more commonly called broad-leaf plantain here. Also we used to call it rabbit lettuce when I was a child. This plant also goes well in a mixture of greens, such as dandelion leaves, curly dock and yellow dock, as a pot herb, but would probably retain more healing properties if pureed in a blender and taken raw.Replied By Susie (Syracuse, NY) on 05/30/2009
Plantain is also excellent for bee stings, just crush the leaf up by rolling it between your fingers (traditionally it was suggested to crush it by chewing it a little mixing it with saliva to apply as compress) so that it's damp and wet, you'll definitely notice when you've bruised it enough, then rub over the bee sting or mosquito bite. Very effective and works quickly. When I was visiting Lancaster, Penn a man there told me the Amish harvest plantain by the bushels to make compresses and other applications to be used for tendonitis, arthritis; I had a sprained knee at the time and I did rub the plantain leaf on my left knee as many times a day as I thought to, probably 3, 4 or 5 times ....within a couple weeks I was completely out of my knee brace. People will think you're nuts as I have had many people snicker at me as I'm constantly picking plantain and rubbing it on either a bug bite or tennis elbow area.
Replied By Natrum (Flemington, New Jersey /usa) on 01/06/2012
We have two kinds of plantain locally, one the broader, rounder leafed kind, and the longer narrower leafed, "lancinate", I believe the form is called. Both are used similarly. The leader of our community garden was stung by a bee and I chewed up a broad leaf, to break the cell walls and get at the juice and applied it to his bite. He probably thought I was batty, but it relieved his pain.
Recently I had some gum pain, and did not wish to see a dentist, as I had been told eventually I would need a root canal. Well, after what I have learned about root canals, that is not likely! So I chewed up some lancinate plantain, and kept it in my cheek next to the gums overnight for a few days. It always felt better in the morning, and eventually, no pain at all.
Replied By Cjabrams (Kelseyville, Ca) on 05/14/2015
I have recently discovered ribwort's benefits. I was amazed to get such quick healing on ulcers on my gums. I have been reading about the many people whom enjoy eating it as any other "greens". My question is why it causes an unusual numbing effect on the throat and tongue that lasts all day. I sauteed fresh young leaves then scrambled with eggs.Replied By Daureen (Rhode Island) on 06/20/2016
Hello, Ribwort Plaintain, although related to broad leaf plaintain are not the same plant. Ribwort has much narrower leaves than the broad leaf. They both have similar healing properties.