Plantain, Waybread, Plantago Major, ‘Wegerich’ or, ‘King of the road’, is the oldest of worts,
healing nutritive supportive plants of person, plant, weedy place. Plantago major is a western herb localized here from Baja to Alaska, from the Caribbean to Greenland. Plantago is an herb of the commons, local everywhere along byways and footpaths. Linnaeus using his binomial, two name surname and first name, called it Plantago major. The binomial Plantar from the latin, sole of the foot, and major, meaning large. So Plantago major is big flat foot, referring to a physical description of plantain when growing in a moist sheltered dappled shade wood. We must go way back to understand plantain because it’s a plant that is within our biospirit archetype complex that manifests outward us as a people, westernkind. So I am looking to old written texts that describe plantain. Call it what you will, ancient? Timeless? Is 400BC ancient? Is 1652 Culpeper ancient? Or is Hippocrates and Culpeper timeless, in the sense of a circle, around and around, outside of progressive linear time? Plants are no different than us, going through the circular seasons We can rearrange the words on a page but the plant is there generationally ubiquitous in the landscape. It was there for fathers and mothers and their fathers and mothers, grandparents, still there the same way unchanged.
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Plantago Major forms a basal rosette of broad spoon shaped, smooth edged, ribbed dark green leaves. The leaves are a rounded oval. The parallel leaf veins are more prominent on the underside. If you are familiar with the lawn variety the semi-wild feral streamside variety is bigger, denser green. Upon trodden pathways they are quite small. Let to themselves they can approach twelve inches long, including the stalk petiole, and 3-4 inches wide. Plantago major is a perennial or biennial with dark green ribbed, broadly ovate at maturity leathery leaves. The flower and seeds are on an inflorescence spike, a dense, bracteate, narrow spike, 2-10 inches tall, seeds and flowers interrupted at the base. The earliest leaves are a salad green potherb, the seeds can be gathered and lightly pan roasted and added to soups, salads. In a closely related Plantago species the seeds are gathered and called psyllium and sold as over the counter bulk fibre laxative. It is said to be introduced from Europe. In the south west mountains it is found in disturbed areas, along trails and roadways. At lower to middle elevation 5000-8000 ft it frequently grows to rather large size often times with cleavers, yellow dock along seasonal riparian zones. P. major is nonnative widely naturalised variety. In common usage language there are many varieties of plantain. There is a more narrow leafed variety Plantago lanceolota used in the same way and many native plantains that resemble P. major with quirky differences. In the plantain lexicon, along with rattlesnake plantain, Goodyera oblongifolia. Which is a speckled bird orchid growing in the highest elevations above 8500ft in the southwest that is an orchid family member completely unrelated botanically but used similarly in western herbalism. Rattlesnake plantain in the southwest is a hands off, do not use gather or touch plant because it is severely curtailed due to prolonged drought in the upper elevation mountains. It bothers me a lot that many of these high elevation plants are sold in commerce by herbalists when equally effective lower elevation ubiquitous plants are available that do the same thing. There is no reason to sell endangered high elevation herbal safari, talisman symbol plants like osha or rattlesnake plantain when asteraciae’s like balsam root, elecampagne, mints like horehound, monarda, common ground ivy are effective, not threatened and encourage bonding with place. https://youtube.com/shorts/iXJim9CarHU?feature=share
Uses of Plantago major, plantain. As said before in my talk on plantain, the earliest leaves, are a pot herb salad edible along with the lightly pan roasted sauteed seeds. Later the leaves become too strongly bitter and stringy to be palatable eaten.
Properties: vulnerary, expectorant, diuretic, demulcent, astringent, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, alterative, hepatoprotective, hemostatic
Some Constituents: Baicalein and aucubin are believed to be among the most important chemicals found in P. major. Baicalein, a flavonoid, and aucubin, an irioid glycoside, are considered the most biologically active components of the plant.[1] Baicalein is known for its potential antioxidant properties and as a free radical scavenger. It is also known for its anti-inflammatory activities, specifically its ability to inhibit inflammatory cytokines in human mast cells.[3,4] Aucubin is the major irioid glycoside isolated from the leaves and has been determined to be a specific inhibitor of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) activation in mast cells, which explains its anti-inflammatory properties. Aucubin has also been shown to have anticancer properties, since it enhances human lymphocyte proliferation and the secretion of interferon γ.[The properties of P. major are modulated by the different components of the plant. These include carbohydrates, lipids, alkaloids, caffeic acid derivatives, flavonoids, iridoid glycosides, and other terpenoids. The chemical analysis of the leaves revealed the presence of aucubin, a glycoside, which has been reported in several studies to be a powerful anti-toxin. There are also some other effective ingredients in this plant such as baicalein, ascorbic acid, apigenin, benzoic acid, chlorogenic acid, citric acid, ferulic acid, oleanolic acid, salicylic acid, and ursolic acid.iridoid glycosides (2.5%), aucubin, apigenin, baicalein, catapol, asperuloside, flavonoids, mucilage (2%), tannins (6.5%), phenolic acids, saponins and flavonoids
Some Plantain Energetics : Plantain leaf is bitter to neutral in taste, older leaves more than younger one. Cooling. It feels both slimy mucilage and bitter tightening tannins, meaning it draws heat, relieves burning lubricates, soothes and moistens tissues. The seeds are more tightening while also drying. Plantain seeds are mucilaginous. Like chia seeds or shredded elm bark when soaked in water, they swell attain a gel-like consistency. Related Plantago seeds are sold as an overnight mild, bulking laxative. They are non-chemical and don’t stimulate peristalsis like Fragula Cascara sagrada.
Organs Systems Affected: skin, blood, epithelial mucous membranes, such as throat, lungs, upper, gut mid and lower burner intestinal, bladder and urinary tract, gut, liver protectant. In recent years, hepatic disorders have been the main cause of deaths around the world (26). In one model of animal study, extract of Plantago major seed, exhibits the hepatoprotective activity by which the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) showed reduction.
Some Plantago Medicinal Uses:
: leaves and seeds have been used in almost all parts of the world for centuries as a wound healer, analgesic, antioxidant, and antibiotic, as well as an immune system modulator, antiviral, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory agent. In Germany their herbal medicine Commission has authorized its internal use for coughs and bronchitis, as well as external use for inflammatory skin ailments . Plantain is considered anti-inflammatory this may be due to plantain’s iridoid glycoside content, which seems to suppress prostaglandin formation [3]. One particular iridoid glycoside, aucubin, is easily metabolized into aucubigenin, a compound with potent antibacterial properties [3]. In vitro testing has found plantain leaf to be effective against a range of bacteria, including Salmonella typhi, Salmonella paratyphi, Shigella dysenteriae and Staphylococcus aureus [13].
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Plantain Topical Uses:
Plantain leaf topical in the field is a soothing drawing agent like Opuntia spp, prickly pear cactus pads for rash, minor noninfectious skin irritation, mosquito bites, bee sting, or cuts and wound dressings. It soothes, cools, and can increase tissue healing, and helps as a drawing poultice. On the trail out and about camping use a bandanna, cotton t shirt or paper towel for a cool compress dipped in strong plantain tea decoction. Plantain’s combination of tissue tightening tannins and cooling makes it a topical try for hemorrhoids. Alone or with witch hazel, red root, canaigre, and horse chestnut. It also can be part of a mouthwash for inflamed gums, canker sores or topical cold sores. Connected to this is the dried plantain leaf infused oil or further on to a salve
Some Internal Uses suggestions:
Plantain is an excellent herb for epithelial inside/outside border tissues pf the internal mucosa as well as skin. In cases of non-descript respiratory irritation infection and simple cough, plantain leaf act as expectorant to help the body with productive cough expel thick mucus, while its soothing demulcent actions calm inflamed hot tissues. In sore throat, gargling with red root and drinking plantain tea can help soothe the throat. Plantain has a mild diuretic effect, and works on the kidneys partly due to its aucubin.
Suggested Formula Blends:
These are some suggested formula blends, use what you have on hand. Look deeply at the plants and try to express the idea in a formula, that the way the plants are combined in the environment is the way they should be combined in your formula. The goal in a formula is nourish the biospirit. So the plants just in the way they are together, the space that they share, the adjacent plants were themselves a formula. The three points plant, person, place. The small plant groupings are a way of healing that we have to understand. It struck me just at that moment that these groupings of plants are the same concept as the life medicines. These are the plants, we are the people. We are going to use the plants that are here. Not in the sense of using plants of commerce to develop a formula but the plants that are here. We are here. We will use the plants that are here. I think that bioregional polycrest remedies have to have a significant place in our bioregional folk herbalism. The unique biospirit unfolds in a place.
https://pgmanski.blogspot.com/2016/01/yarrow-bioregional-folk-polycrest-by.html Topical for drawing blisters/pimples to a head, or drawing non-acute surface splinters objects from the skin: plantain leaf, prickly pear pad and piñon sap warm-infused in oil.
For general skin use: plantain leaf, mexican arnica, local comfrey leaf, and calendula infused in oil.
To sooth stop minor non-emergent bleeding: Plantain leaf and yarrow
For irritated hemorrhoids: Plantain leaf, marshmallow root, and witch hazel leaf
For poison ivy style plant rashes: Plantain leaf, oak bark, cascara sagrada bark
For deeper infection like boils: plantain leaf, la gobernadora, rudbeckia echinacea
For cystitis/UTI’s: plantain leaf, pipsisewah, uva ursi, manzanita leaf, mallow root, juniper berry
For cough/bronchitis: warm tea infusion of plantain leaf, osha, balsam root, elecampane, sweet root, monarda
For ulcers, leaky gut and GI inflammation: Plantain leaf, canadian flea bane, fire weed, slippery elm.
Precautions and Contraindications: Plantain is generally considered a food/medicine, food slash medicine plant on the continuum of food plant, edible plant, food/medicine plant, and medicine plants. Plantago is generally mild and safe however if you are taking any prescription medications you should review any plant you are taking into your body with a licensed physician to review safety or interactions especially blood thinners. Wild Herb Ways : My herbal teacher Michael Cottingham out of Silver City, New Mexico, describes plants in this way. John Slattery likewise has a similar perspective. There are 1)food plants, there are 2)food/ slash medicine plants, and then there are 3)medicine plants. The food plants of course we need to take into our bodies every day, and we all know who they are. They're food plants: peanuts, pine nuts, potato, broccoli, Sweet potato, corn, berries, carrots and so on. The food/medicine plants are plants we can take every day, although, not always included in the diet. Some of these plants may be plants that our ancestors ate daily or seasonally but tend to be eaten less frequently, some of these plants may be, nettles, black and cayenne pepper, onions, mints, turmeric, ginger, garlic, and many others, a lot of these plants have become words, what we call now "spices", if we encounter them at all we will meet them as spices in our daily food/plant life. They're really food/medicine plants. These types of plants usually we can have in larger amounts and more often.
Now the third type of plants that we have are medicine plants, straight medicine plants, exclusively medicine plants, that we take, ingest in much smaller amounts. These plants are inherently different in that they are used differently and used less frequently than the other two groups. The plant that we met last night is a pure medicine plant. No one eats Larrea tridentata for breakfast. No one eats a creosote salad, but you can lacto ferment the buds like a southwest caper. And the way that we approached it is the way that you approach a medicine plant. You you look at the plant, you touch the plant, you smell it, you place it in your hands you look at it with your eyes, you may take a small piece of it and taste it and try it, or you may do what you did take a small twig place it in hot water drink it and look at the plant and feel it's effect on your body. There is also an element of reverence because when we need these plants we need them right now. So you get to know the medicine plants when you're healthy and strong but when you need them it may be very different, a very different condition or situation. Also when you gather plants for medicine you gather them for other people and you also gather them in a different way because you're thinking of the other person who you might not know physically at this time who may need this plant. Because it is a medicine plant it's not a plant that we want to take every day,. Although native peoples, especially the people who lived in the desert, living where we do right where the plant grows, wouldn't be hesitant to take a light tea every day or on most days. As an example with the Western medicine plant echinacea, with echinacea you don't want to take it every day. It’s not a vitamin supplement like vitamin C, there’s no minimum daily requirement for echinacea. You don’t take echinacea every day like a supplement.You take it, in small amounts when you need it and then stop taking it. The plant Larrea tridentata is like this. If you had a cold or a flu coming on, or a skin condition or an arthritic condition that warranted it then you may want to use the plant internally during that time. But it's not an every day plant 24/7 365. I'd like to talk to more about this specifically in person, because there have been cases of chaparral being misused in association with specific inherent organ weaknesses, so there are contradictions and the reasons that I have for explaining it in this way. But to answer your question it's not an every day plant. It is a medicine plant. Here I am not saying it is a medicine plant in the sense of a pharmaceutical. I mean with regard to the grouping we use to understand plants, food, medicine/ slash food, and medicine it is a medicine plant.
We celebrate clockwise daylight sunwise circle of the seasons of the solar wheel of seasons the equinox and solstices. Whereas we celebrate likewise the same progression in night time circle night stars turning opposite counterclockwise around Polaris. Our wellbeing night sky moves counterclockwise, around the bear stars. All of the bear star stories come from previously hidden now revealed by genius perfect fully enlightened, empowered genius world teacher, wild herb ways. So we approach the Neandertal language of experience and our folk tradition. As above so below. The clear living flowing veins of water as streams , rivers and creeks on the landscape, the red blood and vital spark in our veins, and the greening veritas of pulsing plants. From sky to roots and back again. Heaven and earth, our human bodies, the bioregion and the natural seasons ‘move’ according to prescribed sunwise turning order, and according to movement, within the sun begun we are born. The Great Bear is the big dipper, Ursus Major in the Sky is visible year round rotating counterclockwise around the pole star Polaris, spring up fall down. The great bear wakes up in spring, stands up on two legs. In the Autumn the Great bear walks on all fours, he becomes sleepy and lies down. Our holy sacred wild herb way plants kind after kind do the same. I first heard the bear story sheepherding with Joe Agular, in the Gas Hills from Lysite, Lost Cabin to TenSleep for the Ace Spratt. The Basque herder The sky above our heads is filled with bear.
https://pgmanski.blogspot.com/2024/02/sky-looking-like-rain-1985.html
https://youtu.be/z8k86knvWxs?si=MYMQwJapvMuFkmlJ
Sheep Camp/Alkalai Creek
“Moved the drop bunch
With Joe Agular
To near Alkali creek
My camp is three miles due south
Recieved packages of two long underware
From JC Penney
Yesterday I let the roper go into the ewes
Still pulling lambs
Using the warm firm liver
Tomorrow Joe Gitaro will be passing thru
With a band of sheep
Could be trouble if mine and his mix
Just have to see.” -poet Paul Manski 1985
In the heritage Basque language of Neandertal, “Zerua hartzez beteta dago. The bear's mother's name is Maria. Hartzaren amaren izena Maria da.” The Bear stars are many things in the north, a cleaver or obsidian axe, made of stone, the hammer. The bear stars are Karlsvagan, Karl’s wagon, or Charles wagon, from the anglo saxon churl for man, like volkswagon the folk’s wagon. The large wagon is Wotanchristvgon, the Wotan christ way path and the smaller wagon is Kevenavagan, Freya’s wagon, the man’s wagon cart and the woman’s wagon cart. Dawn stands the east and Evening for west.
Plantago was written described as a constituent of the 10th century Anglo-saxon plant spell, The Nigon Wyrta Galdor. “Nine Herbs Charm”‘way-bread’, the foot pathway daily bread panacea plant.
“ + Ond þu ƿegbrade ƿyrta modor
east[a]n op[e]ne inn[a]n mihtigu
ofer ðy cræte curran ofer ðy cƿene reodan
ofer ðy bryde bryodedon ofer ðy fearras fnærdon.”
“And you, Waybread, plant-mother!
You’re open to the east, yet mighty within:
Carts creaked over you, women rode over you,
over you brides bellowed, over you bulls snorted!”
“+ And you, wegbrade, mother of worts,
open to the east—within, mighty,
over you carts creaked, over you women rode,
over you brides yelled, over you oxen snorted.
All you withstood and pushed back against,
so might you withstand venom and on-fliers,
and the loathsome one that fares across land.” - 10th century Anglo-saxon plant spell, The Nigon Wyrta Galdor.
In a face to face community herbalism of people united in wellbeing you want to go directly to widely available plants. You don't need elaborate conspiracy theories to know an overt restructuring process of erasure is rapidly unfolding. All kinds of unimaginable scenarios are unfolding that make the simple act of being together with your kind publicly some kind of treasonous act. More than ever before it's vital to gather face to face, in real life, not online IRL, in person to learn these accessible medicine plants like Mugwort, Waybread plantain, Lamb’s Cress, Chamomile, Stinging Nettle, Apple-of-the-Wood, Fennel, mullein, cleavers, yarrow, the plants of the nine herb 10th century formula. Plants you can meet without a filter, face to face in small groups of friends without dogma, or baggage. Plantago major, is an excellent starting point. You can find stands weedy from Arizona to British Columbia, from Maine to California. It's an herb you'll be instantly familiar with as soon as you crush the spoon shaped ribbed leafs or apply it to bumps and blisters, and get to know it as part of our people.
“Ingredients: Mugwort, Waybread open to the east, Lamb’s Cress, Venom-Loathe, Chamomile, Nettle, Sour-Apple-of-the-Wood, Fille, and Fennel. Old soap.
Prepare and apply the salve: Work these plants to dust, and mix them with apple mush. Make a paste of water and ashes. Take Fennel and mix the plant into the boiling paste. Bathe the wound with an egg mixture both before the patient applies the salve and after.
Sing the above galdor over each of the nine plants. Sing the galdor three times before the patient self-applies the salve, and sing the galdor three times on the apple. Sing the galdor into the patient’s mouth, sing the galdor into each of the patient’s ears, and—before the patient applies the salve—sing the galdor into the patient’s wound.” - 10th century Anglo-saxon plant spell, The Nigon Wyrta Galdor.
Plantago is a turtle island plant calling home. What and where is Turtle Island? A: Turtle Island is clockwise, four directions sunwise in the upper northeast right front foot Greenland, the lower right southeast right foot of the turtle Florida East Caribbean, the lower southwest left foot of the turtle the Gulf of California West and Baja California, in the northwest the upper left front foot of the turtle are the Aleutian islands and Alaska. Plantain is wherever, whatever, whoever on Turtle Island found.
The Nigon Wyrta Galdor. “Nine Herbs Charm” formula with Plantago as the 2nd of the nine, is part of the the heritage of western herbalism and vitalism. So I reiterate again and again with western herbalism the pronouns us, we as a cult of people, and of cult of place. I say over and over, our people, our place because that sense of the commons as an experience and resource has been generationally erased, removed and a cult of newness has emerged which degenerates everything into a cult of shiny new youth rock and roll hip hop jazz improvisation, buy buy, buy, die die die herbalism of the complex and exotic. Herbalism is not brand new improved, secret, my herbalism hack. Herbalism is the public space of us we becoming and re-becoming a people of well-being. The medieval tradition of panacea herbs used in healing biospirit goes back to Hippocrates and his oath:
Ὄμνυμι Ἀπόλλωνα ἰητρὸν καὶ Ἀσκληπιὸν καὶ Ὑγείαν καὶ Πανάκειαν καὶ θεοὺς πάντας τε καὶ πάσας ἵστορας ποιεύμενος ἐπιτελέα ποιήσειν κατὰ δύναμιν καὶ κρίσιν ἐμὴν ὅρκον τόνδε καὶ ξυγγραφὴν τήνδε.
“I swear, calling upon Apollo the physician and Asclepius, Hygeia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses as witnesses, that I will fulfill this oath and this contract according to my ability and judgment.’ The oath here of Hippocrates affirms in it the linked intertwined wryrt weaving of us, we upon a commons of place, locality, neighborhood. A Panacea both calls forth beauty, cleanliness, health, goodness, long life, vigor and through the taking of the herbal cure connects oneself to a lineage of healing within vitalism. There is nothing exactly like the panacea in the modern world. So like Evola we resist modernism because we demand our Folk First faith for the wellbeing of us as a people, not cogs in a wheel but ownership of the process. So we have our herbal cures approximating them.
“There are a variety of ways to interpret and understand this charm. From a comparative perspective, the present translator deems the following interpretation to be the most likely: A speaker is to use the charm to cure (or more appropriately, defeat) some kind of wound that involves infectious disease visualized as appearing in the air, onflyge—literally ‘on-fliers’ and geflog ‘infectious disease’, and across land, ‘the loathsome one who fares across land’ in the direct translation. The galdor-singer invokes the aid of an army consisting of nine mighty plants or, in the direct translation, worts. One by one, the speaker calls on each plant, addressing them as hardened and experienced troops.
After the speaker tallies the lineup of her forces, she identifies the retinue’s foe—the aforementioned loathsome one—as a ferocious wyrm, a serpentine creature that appears in ancient Germanic texts comparable to modern notions of a dragon, and calls upon the deity Wōden to lead her forces. Being a notable healer and military leader in the broader Germanic corpus, Wōden engages the monster before it can harm anyone and strikes first. Using his ‘wonder twigs’ (perhaps medical runic inscriptions, see discussion below), he causes the creature to split into nine portions. The portions become nine ‘on-fliers’, each with a different colored venom. They are then set upon by the nine plants and annihilated.
Once the wyrm and its portions are defeated, the plants arise, evidently in a gesture of victory, ending the verse section of the poem. A prose section follows that directs the reader to make a salve and instructs them on its application.”
Walking in a wild forest is a gift, something of a garden scrambled.
“19. An ash I know that stands, Yggdrasill it’s called,
a tall tree, drenched with shining loam;
from there come the dews which fall in the valley,
green, it stands always over Urd’s well.” -Vǫluspá Mimisbrunnr.info. 2017. “Carolyne Larrington, 1996 & 2014”. Eddic to English, Mimisbrunnr.info.
A fountain unobstructed, that was not made by the hands of men, as in Robert Hunter’s Ripple. These are steep mountains. These are steep, rocky, stony and somewhat neglected in the sense of set apart eroded hills of about 7500 feet, 2300m elevation. Set apart means, holy, left alone. Something like the twisted gnarly tree of Chuang tzu, left to live because it was too twisted for boards, too many knots for fire wood, left alone. Left alone to live and become itself whatever that is, was or will be. The words I say are english, hence there are which I found, Old English spells, healing with worts and words. I was not expecting to find such an abundance of Plantago major, nor to dig up plantains story. I was actually looking for another sacred bark tree, Cascara sagrada. I was searching for weathered yellow parment leaves, Frangula betulifola, falling to the ground, red and purple black berries. Crossing a mostly dry November creek, after the monsoon rains, leave a puddling of water, a gurgling low November sun, a one hundred year Anasazi drought that hangs in the air with a high pressure positioned over the continental divide. In the bottom where skunk, fox, turkey, javelina, mule deer drink there was the biggest plantain I have ever seen. Dark green giant spoon sized leaves, so big I thought it was maybe a yellow dock rumex.
“PLANTAIN.
This grows usually in meadows and fields, and by path sides, and is so well known, that it needs no description.
Time.] It is in its beauty about June, and the seed ripens shortly after.
Government and virtues.] It is true, Misaldus and others, yea, almost all astrology-physicians, hold this to be an herb of Mars, because it cures the diseases of the head and privities, which are under the houses of Mars, Aries, and Scorpio: The truth is, it is under the command of Venus, and cures the head by antipathy to Mars, and the privities by sympathy to Venus; neither is there hardly a martial disease but it cures.
The juice of Plantain clarified and drank for divers days together, either of itself, or in other drink, prevails wonderfully against all torments or excoriations in the intestines or bowels, helps the distillations of rheum from the head, and stays all manner of fluxes, even women’s courses, when they flow too abundantly. It is good to stay spitting of blood and other bleedings at the mouth, or the making of foul and bloody water, by reason of any ulcer in the reins or bladder, and also stays the too free bleeding of wounds. It is held an especial remedy for those that are troubled with the phthisic, or consumption of the lungs, or ulcers of the lungs, or coughs that come of heat. The decoction or powder of the roots or seeds, is much more binding for all the purposes aforesaid than the leaves. Dioscorides saith, that three roots boiled in wine and taken, helps the tertain agues, and for the quartan agues, (but letting the number pass as fabulous) I conceive the decoction of divers roots may be effectual. The herb (but especially the seed) is held to be profitable against the dropsy, the falling-sickness, the yellow jaundice, and stoppings of the liver and reins. The roots of Plantain, and Pellitory of Spain, beaten into powder, and put into the hollow teeth, takes away the pains of them. The clarified juice, or distilled water, dropped into the eyes, cools the inflammations in them, and takes away the pin and web; and dropped into the ears, eases the pains in them, and heals and removes the heat. The same also with the juice of Houseleek is profitable against all inflammations and breakings out of the skin, and against burnings and scaldings by fire and water. The juice or decoction made either of itself, or other things of the like nature, is of much use and good effect for old and hollow ulcers that are hard to be cured, and for cankers and sores in the mouth or privy parts of man or woman; and helps also the pains of the piles in the fundament. The juice mixed with oil of roses, and the temples and forehead anointed therewith, eases the pains of the head proceeding from heat, and helps lunatic and frantic persons very much; as also the
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biting of serpents, or a mad dog. The same also is profitably applied to all hot gouts in the feet or hands, especially in the beginning. It is also good to be applied where any bone is out of joint, to hinder inflammations, swellings, and pains that presently rise thereupon. The powder of the dried leaves taken in drink, kills worms of the belly; and boiled in wine, kills worms that breed in old and foul ulcers. One part of Plantain water, and two parts of the brine of powdered beef, boiled together and clarified, is a most sure remedy to heal all spreading scabs or itch in the head and body, all manner of tetters, ringworms, the shingles, and all other running and fretting sores. Briefly, the Plantains are singularly good wound herbs, to heal fresh or old wounds or old wounds or sores, either inward or outward.”
-Culpeper, Nicolas Complete Herbal, London, England 1652 https://www.gutenberg.org/files/49513/49513-h/49513-h.htm
Clinical notes: Plantain, Waybread, Plantago Major, ‘Wegerich’ or, ‘King of the road’ is a true panacea herb with direct intuitive, folk documented uses and scientific peer reviewed constituent analysis that supports the anecdotal folk uses. “Plantago major has been prescribed in various forms such as roasted seeds, decoction, syrup, liniment, gargle, rectal enema, vaginal suppository, eye and nasal drop for each illness by TPM (Traditional Persian Medicine) scholars.”Plantago major is called “Lesan-ol-haml” or “Barhang” in Traditional Persian Medicine (TPM) “According to traditional medicine experts, temperament means the dominant quality of the composite object, and it is made of the interaction of four basic qualities (hot, cold, wet, and dry). From this viewpoint, both individuals and plants have a certain temperament. Temperament has an important function in maintaining the ideal healthy state of an individual. To determine the temperament in plants, you must check the plant’s effect after entering the human body. After the consumption of the plants, if the body of the human is warmer, colder, dryer, or wetter than before, the temperament of the plant is warm, cold, dry or wet, respectively. After usage of P. major, the body’s temperament had a cold and dry quality. Dryness and astringency in the seed and root is more than in the leaf.” Al-Nafis I. Al-Shamil fi al-Tibb. Abu Dhabi: United Arab Emirates Pub; 2000. [Google Scholar] & Aghili M. Qarabadin Kabir. Tehran: Tehran University of Medical Science Press; 1999. [Google Scholar]
Panacea was the daughter of greek Asclepius. Plantain, Waybread, Plantago Major, ‘Wegerich’ or, ‘King of the road’ is a category of herb known as elixir alterative herbs that support the health restorative process. Why is Plantain, Waybread, Plantago Major, ‘Wegerich’ or, ‘King of the road’ spp considered a panacea restorative herb? Because Plantain, Waybread, Plantago Major, ‘Wegerich’ or, ‘King of the road’ both addresses specific health conditions while also supporting the organ systems in a restorative nutritive way by virtue of its potent profile of antioxidants, flavonoids, and aromatics that support foundational health via chemical pathways that promote immune response. What makes this herb so special is that it is unique in that it’s many folk uses make sense when we consider the scientific plant constituent analysis. Plantain, Waybread, Plantago Major, ‘Wegerich’ or, ‘King of the road’ is plentiful, powerful, potent, available and nontoxic. Plantain, Waybread, Plantago Major, ‘Wegerich’ or, ‘King of the road’ has both documented folk usage and documented chemical constituent analysis that are in agreement, throughout the whole plant leaf, flower, stem and root. What makes this herb so special is that it’s many folk uses make sense when we consider the scientific plant constituent chemical analysis.
Further Plantain, Waybread, Plantago Major, ‘Wegerich’ or, ‘King of the road’ is basically non-toxic both by folk usage tradition and chemical scientific chemical analysis. Let’s face it many herbs have a documented folk use history but when the scientific eye focuses on the plant some iffy, dubious and sometimes dangerous compounds emerge in the process of chemical analysis. With Plantain, Waybread, Plantago Major, ‘Wegerich’ or, ‘King of the road’ we possess an herb that is non-toxic, readily available, easily sustainable and potent. And while we can point out OTC, over the counter dominant culture style medi-pills and capsules destroying biospirit via erasure, readily available, widely used, way over/used/abused medicines like acetaminophen, that are also potent toxic substances yet in common usage, finger pointing and reaction is not the best way to proceed. One thing is absolutely clear, “There will be no community herbalism until we become again a people, in a specific place working with our local plants to maximize our wellbeing.” -Wild Herb ways Paul Manski
-Bontologia Salmon, William, 1644-1713; Dawks, Ichabod, 1661-1730, printer; Taylor, John (Bookseller), bookseller; Rhodes, Henry, bookseller, engraver.
I don’t want to appeal to the anyone trying to extract some abstract knowledge for a wikipedia AI blah blah blah, this is just what I have found. So this is a tale of experience, a rambling through a forest on a November day. This is also wandering through the poetic Edda, the Havamal. This is finding, touching, seeing, tasting. This is an accident, a pleasant synchronicity. Something only Jung with Wotan, runes, archetypes and deep mythology of western biospirit could cook up. It’s definitely a long cook, soup stew for cold November, December. When the sun is low, after all hallows praying to blood and bone ancestors. The same struggle of Wotan, arrogant and dark with loyalty to the folk first! Earth First! Forest of place.
Let’s begin this journey with a wish, a saying that you will find. That you will look. The only thing I can tell you is that life is suffering, if you can’t endure pain then shut up, get out. This is stanza 140-147, the 1865 translation from Old Norse into English by Benjamin Thorpe from the original High one’s sayings (Old Norse: Hávamál) poem found in the Codex Regius. A couple notes on Wotan, first Wotan did not actually disfigure himself and pluck out his eye. Wotan is called the one eyed one because he was single pointed focused on the wellbeing of his people. If you have fired a rifle or pulled a bow, you close one eye to shoot, to aim. Wotan climbed the tree for wisdom for the we and us, not a journey of self-realization. It was the quest of the hero never separated from his people, from his place, from his folk. You reading these words are the same hero, pilgrimage, journey, the generational run with the pronouns us as a people, we as a people. According to who? According to me. The women are valkyries who able to see courage, bravery and loyalty in the heart. Val norse man and kjosa, to chose, so a woman who seeks out, picks, choses a worthy man to work together, to assist a man in the ultimate choice, family, to Wotan’s hall at valhalla. Men, are in the struggle and victory can happen in the us of we only through together action of male and female working with the single eye conviction of focus to our wellbeing. In Skáldskaparmál, some manuscripts mention up to 29 different Valkyrian names: Hrist, Mist, Herja, Hlökk, Geiravör, Göll, Hjörþrimul, Guðr, Herfjötra, Skuld, Geirönul, Skögul, Randgníð, Ráðgríðr, Göndul, Svipul, Geirskögul, Hildr, Skeggöld, Hrund, Geirdriful, Randgríðr, Þrúðr, Reginleif, Sveið, Þögn, Hjalmþrimul, Þrima and Skalmöld.
“Rúnatal: Tally of the runes
140
I know that I hung,
on a wind-rocked tree,
nine whole nights,
with a spear wounded,
and to Odin offered,
myself to myself;
on that tree,
of which no one knows
from what root it springs.
141
Bread no one gave me,
nor a horn of drink,
downward I peered,
to runes applied myself,
wailing learnt them,
then fell down thence.
142
Potent songs nine
from the famed son I learned
of Bölthorn, Bestla’s sire,
and a draught obtained
of the precious mead,
drawn from Odhrærir.
143
Then I began to bear fruit,
and to know many things,
to grow and well thrive:
word by word
I sought out words,
fact by fact
I sought out facts.
144
Runes thou wilt find,
and explained characters,
very large characters,
very potent characters,
which the great speaker depicted,
and the high powers formed,
and the powers’ prince graved:
145
Odin among the Æsir,
but among the Alfar, Dáin,
and Dvalin for the dwarfs,
Ásvid for the Jötuns:
some I myself graved.
146
Knowest thou how to grave them?
knowest thou how to expound them?
knowest thou how to depict them?
knowest thou how to prove them?
knowest thou how to pray?
knowest thou how to offer?
knowest thou how to send?
knowest thou how to consume?
147
‘Tis better not to pray
than too much offer;
a gift ever looks to a return.
‘Tis better not to send
than too much consume.
So Thund graved
before the origin of men,
where he ascended,
to whence he afterwards came.” -stanza 140-147, 1865 translation from Old Norse into English by Benjamin Thorpe from the original High one’s sayings (Old Norse: Hávamál) poem found in the Codex Regius.
Some of the earliest items in the Old English record contain mentions of elemental forces incarnated as men and women, such as Wotan Odin (Old English Wōden). We can call Wotan, Frig, Freya, Thor ancients gods of our ancestral people. Yes true. Alongside concepts from the Germanic folklore known as Asatru and volkish faith, Wotan, Frig, Freya, Thor ancients gods and the dwarf (dweorg) and elf (ælf) fairies and so on are Gods. They are also elemental forces, empowerment points in the ecosystem upon the bioregion. These concepts must be linked to the saying, ‘As above so below.’, in the sense that the human body is a kind of musical instrument alive. The earth is also alive because we are alive and we don’t become more alive by consuming life less matter. Life becomes life. Life consumes life. The central point of life consumes life is that life cherishes life as thankfulness, loyalty, in the exchange.
Most notable of these numerical mentions are the Old English metrical charms, which frequently place a particular emphasis on the numbers three and nine. The so-called Nine Herbs Charm (Nigon Wyrta Galdor) makes for an excellent example, placing emphasis on nine specific holy herbs and nine ‘glory twigs’ (wuldortānas) in association with the god Odin (Old English Wōden). Consider the following quote:
Stylized translation
These nine plants defeat nine venoms!
A wyrm came slithering, and yet he killed no one,
for wise Wōden took nine glory-twigs
and smote the serpent,
who flew into nine parts!
There, apple overcame venom:
The wyrm would never find shelter there.
These VIIII [nine] are potent against nine venoms.
+ A wyrm came sneaking. He killed no one.
Then Wōden took VIIII [nine] glory-twigs [wuldortānas],
struck the serpent,
that she [he, the serpent?] into VIIII [nine] flew,
there, apple overcame venom,
so that she [again, he?] never in a house would dwell.
Translation by J. S. Hopkins for Mimisbrunnr.info. Read the entire translation here.
Nine and other multipliers of three occur throughout the poem, notably in the list of venom colors, where the choice is quite deliberate despite the requirements of alliterative verse. Notably, the number seven appears a single time in the poem, perhaps a later introduction.
Deriving from Old English wyrd, modern English’s sense of weird as ‘strange’ first occurs in the 19th century, but before that, the word, perhaps fabric-like, indicated a twist or turn of ‘fate’ (with the caveat that the borrowed word fate is more of a rough gloss than a straightforward translation of the concept). The Old Norse cognate to Old English wyrd, urðr, receives extensive use in the North Germanic corpus, occurring notably in the compound Urðarbrunnr (‘Wyrd’s Well, Wyrd’s Spring’), and the name of a specific entity, the norn Urðr, who personifies the concept. (For focused discussion on the etymology of the word wyrd and its cognates, see for example OED 2020).
The well Urðarbrunnr has an important place in North Germanic cosmology, as it is closely connected to the cosmic central sacred tree, Yggdrasil. According to the eddic poem Vǫluspá:
I know an ash stands,
it’s called Yggdrasill;
a glorious and immense tree,
wet with white and shining mud;
from there dew falls to the dales,
forever standing green over Wyrd’s Well (Urðarbrunnr). (Hopkins translation, 2020)
“The Nine Herb Charm”
Translated by Felix Grendon circa 1909, from the 10th century Old English manuscript
Remember, Mugwort, what you revealed, What you prepared at Regenmeld. Una, you are called, eldest of herbs. Yoii avail against three and against thirty, You avail against poison and against infectious sickness, You avail against the loathsome fiend that wanders through the land.
And you, Plantain, mother of herbs. Open from the east, mighty from within. Over you carts creaked, over you queens rode. Brides exclaimed over you, over you bulls gnashed their teeth. Yet all these you withstood and fought against:
193
So may you poison and infectious sicknesses resist And the loathsome fiend that wanders through the land.
Stime this herb is named; on stone it grew. It stands against poison, it combats pain. Fierce it is called, it fights against venom, It expels malicious [demons], it casts out venom. This is the herb that fought against the snake, This avails against venom, it avails against infectious illnesses, It avails against the loathsome fiend that wanders through the land.
Fly now, Betonica, the less from the greater, The greater from the less, until there be a remedy for both.
Remember, Camomile, what you revealed, What you brought about at Alorford:
That he nevermore gave up the ghost because of ills infectious, Since Camomile into a drug for him was made.
This is the herb called Wergulu. The seal sent this over the ocean's ridge To heal the horror of other poison.
These nine fought against nine poisons:
A snake came sneaking, it slew a man. Then Woden took nine thunderbolts And struck the serpent so that in nine parts it flew. There apple destroyed the serpent's poison: That it nevermore in house would dwell.
Thyme and Fennel, an exceeding mighty two. These herbs the wise Lord created. Holy in heaven, while hanging [on the cross]. He laid and placed them in the seven worlds, As a help for the poor and the rich alike.
It stands against pain, it fights against poison. It is potent against three and against thirty. Against a demon's hand, and against sudden guile. Against enchantment by vile creatures.
Now these nine herbs avail against nine accursM spirits. Against nine poisons and against nine infectious ills. Against the red poison, against the running poison, Against the white poison, against the blue poison. Against the yellow poison, against the green poison. Against the black poison, against the blue poison^ Against the brown poison, against the scarlet poison. Against worm-blister, against water-blister,Against thorn-blister, against thistle-blister,
Against ice-blister, against poison-blister.
If any infection come flying from the east, or any come from the north,
Or any come from the west upon the people.
Christ stood over poison of every kind. I alone know [the use of] running water, and the nine serpents take heed [of it]. All pastures now may spring up with herbs. The seas, all salt water, vanish, When I blow this poison from you.
Mugwort, plantain which is open eastward, lamb's cress, betony, camomile, nettle, crab-apple, thyme and fennel, [and] old soap ; reduce the herbs to a powder, mix [this] with the soap and with the juice of the apple. Make a paste of water and of ashes; take fennel, boil it in the paste and bathe with egg-mixture, either before or after the patient applies the salve. Sing the charm on each of the herbs : three times before he brews them, and on the apple likewise; and before he applies the salve, sing the charm into the patient's mouth and into both his ears and into the wound.”
Electron Physician. 2018 Feb 25;10(2):6390–6399. doi: 10.19082/6390
Copyright and License information
Table 1.
Plantago major applications in TPM and Modern Medicine
1Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA),
2Ears, nose and throat (ENT),
3Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC),
4Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP),
5Phosphodiesterase inhibitor (PDEI).
Some References:
Personal Field School Notes:
Cottingham, Michael. Silver City, New Mexico,Voyage Botanica
Manski, Paul George. Santa Clara, New Mexico
Moore, Michael Shaw’ 1941-2009
Slattery, John. Tucson, Arizona Herbal Apprentice Program
Wild Herb Ways, www.pgmanski.blogspot.com Field Notes with genius world teacher 1977-2025
Aghili M. Qarabadin Kabir. Tehran: Tehran University of Medical Science Press; 1999. [Google Scholar]
Al-Nafis I. Al-Shamil fi al-Tibb. Abu Dhabi: United Arab Emirates Pub; 2000. [Google Scholar]
Bates, Brian. 1983. The Web of Wyrd: Tales of an Anglo-Saxon Sorcerer. Century
Black, Joseph. 2009. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: Volume 1: The Medieval Period, pp. 42-43. 2nd edition. Broadview Press.
Butcher, G. D. 1995. Stav: The Fighting System of Northern Europe. Stav Marketing.
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Culpeper, Nicolas Complete Herbal, London, England 1652
Grendon Felix. Anglo-Saxon Charms, Offprint from "Journal of American Folklore", 22 (1909) “The Nine Herb Charm
Translated by Felix Grendon circa 1909, from the 10th century Old English manuscript”Grendon, Felix. 1909. The Anglo-Saxon Charms, pp. 190-195. Columbia University Press. Public domain: Viewable online at Archive.org. (Originally published in The Journal of American Folk-Lore, 1909, vol. XXII, no. LXXIV)
Gordon, R. K. 1957 [1922]. Anglo-Saxon Poetry, pp. 92-94. Public domain: Viewable online at Archive.org. J. M. Dent & Sons, LTD.
Hopkins, Joseph S. 2020. “Nigon Wyrta Galdor: The Old English Nine Plants Spell or the Nine Herbs Charm”. Mimisbrunnr.info. URL: https://www.mimisbrunnr.info/nigon-wyrta-galdor
Hopkins, Joseph S. 2025. “Rune tree symbol”. Mimisbrunnr.info. URL: https://www.mimisbrunnr.info/rune-tree-symbol
Hopkins, Joseph S. & Lauren E. Fountain. 2020. “Web of Wyrd”. Mimisbrunnr.info. URL: https://www.mimisbrunnr.info/ksd-web-of-wyrd
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Mimisbrunnr.info. 2017. “Carolyne Larrington, 1996 & 2014”. Eddic to English, Mimisbrunnr.info. URL: https://www.mimisbrunnr.info/eddic-to-english-carolyne-larrington-1996-2014
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Reina E, Al-Shibani N, Allam E, Gregson KS, Kowolik M, Windsor LJ. The Effects of Plantago major on the Activation of the Neutrophil Respiratory Burst. J Tradit Complement Med. 2013 Oct;3(4):268-72. doi: 10.4103/2225-4110.119706. PMID: 24716188; PMCID: PMC3924996.
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Slattery, J. (2020). Southwest medicinal plants: Identify, harvest, and use 112 wild herbs for health and wellness. Timber Press.
Zakhire Kharazmshahi. The Canon of Medicine” (Avicenna, 980–1037), “Zakhire Kharazmshahi” (Jorjani, 1042–1136) and “Makhzan-Al- Advia” (Aghili, 19ih century)
