Athelas

[Arbellason]

Besides knowledge on how to fight and remain stealthy a ranger usually knows a few things on field medicine. What I found is kind of special after looking for ages for an equivalent to Athelas I found it. It is called Greater Plantain or plantain major. It is noted for drawing out poisons something useful if you are hit with morgul steel. It also reduces swelling and helps to stop bleeding.
As with athelas it is to be crushed or broken then stuck in hot water then applied to the wound.

[Straelbora]

I've heard it was called "White man's foot print" or the equivalent by some North American Native peoples, as it was introduced to NA by European settlers and quickly took off as an invasive species.

[Eledhwen]

This is true, brought over by the Puritans and called White Mans' Foot because it grew in the trampled and disturbed areas around European settlements. It is medicinal and edible, one of the most useful plants we have..and it will grow most anywhere. It is tough and hardy. It was invasive then, but then, everything is invasive at one point or another, be it spore, seed, or organism. In time they become naturalized or die out. Such is the way of things.

Eledhwen

[Ringulf]

Where is this normally found? I would love to see if we can get some to grow around here if it is not already!

[Straelbora]

Where is this normally found? I would love to see if we can get some to grow around here if it is not already!

Not sure about Florida, but here in the Midwest/Great Lakes, check any large lawn or field that isn't sprayed. When I was a kid, we used to go to a camp area in Michigan and I was always barefoot (very much the young Hobbit without knowing it) and I remember being vexed by catching the tall stem part (I'm sure there's a specific botanical name for it) of the plants inbetween my toes as I walked through the lawns, which were mowed on a regular basis. The plantain seemed to be the first plant to bounce back after being cut.

[Arbellason]

As far as I know it is found pretty much anywhere where there is grass. It is a very hearty plant much like Athelas and sadly is treated as a common weed.

[Shadowhawk]

Wasn't Athelas also treated like a weed by most people not influenced by elves? Anyway a very useful plant. I distinctly remember treating numerous wounds and scrapes with it from as far back as when I was 5 or 6. Both my own as well as some friends. Grandpa teaching me about it is one of my earliest memories and that led me to be interested in herblore and ultimately traditional chinese medicine that I am now studying. Of course it and similar teachings also possibly led me to becoming a practicing witch so mom propably doesn't appreciate the plant quite as much...

[Straelbora]

Wasn't Athelas also treated like a weed by most people not influenced by elves? Anyway a very useful plant. I distinctly remember treating numerous wounds and scrapes with it from as far back as when I was 5 or 6. Both my own as well as some friends. Grandpa teaching me about it is one of my earliest memories and that led me to be interested in herblore and ultimately traditional chinese medicine that I am now studying. Of course it and similar teachings also possibly led me to becoming a practicing witch so mom propably doesn't appreciate the plant quite as much...

Your recounting learning some herb lore from a grandparent makes me wistful. My mom, now in her mid-80s, talks about gardening with her mother and going into the woods of Pennsylvania to collect herbs and mushrooms. My grandmother was an immigrant from the mountains of southern Poland and died before I was born. My mom moved away from the small town when she was in her early 20s and so that knowledge of gardening and forest herbs and mushrooms, which may have gone back thousands of years, was lost.

My mother-in-law is from China and over the last few years, I've learned more about gardening from her than I had from muddling along over the previous decades. I guess you can always try and reforge broken chains of knowledge, but it's not easy.

[BrianGrubbs]

Plantain is everywhere here in Alabama, I've got tons in my front yard. I use it most for treating bee stings. Just chew some leaves to make a paste and apply directly to the sting. My wife got stung by a saddleback caterpillar on a hike once, and the plantain was all we had to treat it. I found some in the parking lot of a gas station and it quickly reduced the pain level of the sting.

Brian

[Manveruon]

Out of curiosity, could this have any application in treating less severe nuisances, like mosquito bites?

[Arbellason]

You probably could otherwise I think dock leaves work.

[Udwin]

Out of curiosity, could this have any application in treating less severe nuisances, like mosquito bites?

Eh, I've had limited success treating bites with Plantago. For skeeters and other 'itchies', I'd stick with jewelweed (Impatiens biflora/capensis).
Plantago works best, in my experience, for staunching bleeding of minor-to-moderate cuts and scrapes. Just bruising or mashing (not chewing--mouth germs and all that) up a few big leaves up as a poultice and pressing onto the wound has worked very well for me in a pinch.

[Manveruon]

Good to know!

[brownl_91]

Thanks, I forgot all about this plant

[Eledhwen]

Parsley, of all things, rubbed on a mosquito bite, will kill the itch. Fresh parsley that is. It grows quite well up here.

Eledhwen