Did You Know That These ‘Weeds’ Are Great For Mosquito Bites?

Over the weekend I was attending a 7-year-old birthday party at a friend's. I wore a T-shirt and jeans, I mean it was beautiful outside, but all of a sudden I felt it. The first mosquito bite of the year had arrived, and that means it was also the first itch of the year. My buddy, who saw me swat the bug dead, grabbed something from his yard and told me to rub it on the bite. I had no idea that something growing in the lawn could be used to soothe mosquito bites.

The plant that my buddy grabbed from his yard looked to me like an ordinary weed. You know the ones, that seem to emerge in the cracks of your driveway. Well apparently this weed is called a Common Plantain and it has some medicinal properties.

ScoutLife.org has more information on using common plantain to relieve itching from a mosquito bite.

Roll up one big plantain leaf and rub it between your hands with a few drops of water until it’s like a slimy wad of green gum. Place on stings or bites for nearly instant relief.

If you are also interested in what else this plant can offer you, apparently its leaves are also edible if you are in a pinch and need some nutrition. (Although you should wash the leaves before eating to make sure they are clean of contaminants).

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Also, it appears that at one point there was a record-setting specimen of plantain that was here in Stearns County at one point according to MinnesotaWildflowers.info