Plantain (the herb, not the banana)

Plantain (plantago spp.) is the one herb everyone needs to know about, especially kids or people who have them. It's one of the first aid plants that grow under right our noses (well, feet) where and when needed for bug bites & stings, splinters, or skinned knees; pretty much anything untoward that our outside surfaces can come up against, plantain can soothe and heal. Infected cut? Blister? Plantain.

It does the same for our insides, too. Abscess in your mouth? (ouch!) Plantain. Raw sore throat? Stomach ulcer? Plantain.

This ever so useful, ever so weedy herb grows no matter where you are in the world, in one form or another, tropical or arctic-al (is that a word? it is now). Don't try to tell me you don't have plantain, because you do.