2023-08-10 10:53:17
Among the different species of plantains, some authors consider only the major plantain or common plantain or great plantain (Plantago major), others the lanceolate plantain or lesser plantain or five-ribbed grass (P. lanceolata), others, finally, the medium plantain or lamb’s tongue (P. media).
All three presenting, according to common opinion, analogous properties, we will treat them together. These perennial herbs, belonging to the Plantaginaceae family, are extremely common, especially the first two. They are found in waste places and meadows, and the former is even found on country roads.
Already known by the greatest doctors of antiquity, from Dioscorides and Pliny to Galen, plantain was later used by the Salernitian School as an astringent in metrorrhagia or to simulate virginity in young girls who had it. lost. Today, it is mainly used as a diuretic, topical and astringent.
It is used in the composition of infusions or plasters intended to treat ulcers, pustules or insect bites. It can also be used to make mouthwashes for gargling or effective solutions against conjunctivitis. It is generally thought, and with good reason, that the plantain has vast possibilities which are currently not sufficiently exploited.
Adequate scientific research, investigating its properties, should be practiced, so that one can widen its use.
Bugrane, ononis, tenon or oxeye (Ononis spinosa ), Papilionaceae family, is a perennial herb, very widespread in Europe, North Africa and the Near East. It is quite common in grasslands and uncultivated places in low mountains.
The drug is extracted from the roots, which can reach a length of 50 centimeters and a diameter of one centimeter. It contains some saponins, tannin, citric acid and essential oils. Physicians in classical antiquity were already familiar with restharrow and used it as a diuretic to treat kidney stones.
You can use the infusion, to which fennel is often added. But some authors think that most of the active principles are eliminated by evaporation, and they prefer to use the fluid extract or a syrup.
The fruit is very characteristic, tuberculous, double and covered with recurved hairs. The whole plant is used, harvested at the time of flowering or, according to other authors, just before. Rich in coumarin, it gives off a characteristic smell, but only when dried. We use the infusion, obtained by maceration at 5% in water or wine (it is by this process that we manufacture, in Austria and Germany, the “Maitrank”, drink of May, and the ” Waldmeisterbowle”). It is a diuretic and a renal antiseptic.
In addition, like other drugs containing coumarin, it is a sedative and a mildly hypnotic antispasmodic. It is therefore indicated against insomnia and erectism, and more particularly in fragile people such as the elderly, children and convalescents.
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#Plantain #Restharrow #Woodruff