Plantain

Plantago major

Plantaginaceae

The ribbed lawn weed you step on — a first-aid leaf for bites and scrapes.

Common yard plant. Not the banana-family cooking plantain.

Parts used: Leaf · Seed
Traditional notes: Insect bites · Minor scrapes · Dry cough (leaf tea) · Fiber (seed)
Grow · USDA 6b: Perennial. Already in the path. Or stop weeding a corner. In work: Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep
Harvest: Young leaves anytime; seed when spikes brown.

Stop weeding a clean corner of path. It is already there.
Young leaves for tea; old ones are string.
Keep it off the dog-walk and the road salt.

Safety

Dirty roadsides as food

Lore

White man’s footprint, because the seed followed European shoes around the world. A ribbed rosette in every lawn. The leaf pulled over a bee sting is the oldest first-aid kit that does not require a kit.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.