Healing Wounds: Pine and Plantain
Healing Wounds: Pine and Plantain
-Rachel Berry
Plantain
Pine and plantain are two abundant plants we have in the northern California region for wound healing. These two plants are particularly useful for stings, bites, splinters – any situation when something needs to be drawn out from the skin.
The pitch from a pine tree and the leaves of plantain can be applied fresh, directly to the skin, after a sting or processed into a medicinal oil and then made into a healing salve as described below:
Step 1: Plantain Medicinal Oil
Loosely fill a glass jar with fresh, chopped up plantain leaf. Pour olive oil over the plantain and cap jar. Leave on a sunny windowsill for 3-4 weeks, and shake the jar daily. When finished, strain plant material from oil with a cloth or cheesecloth.
Step 2: Pine Pitch Medicinal Oil
Collect resin from natural deposits that occur on pine trees. Fill a container about 1/3 – ½ full with pine pitch (pick a container you don’t mind losing – it will be hard to get the pitch out after you are done). If you have a big chunk of pitch, put it in a rag and hammer it into smaller pieces before putting it into the container. Add olive oil and fill to the top. Let it sit in a sunny location for four or five days, and shake regularly. When finished, strain oil from pitch.
Step 3: Making the Wound Salve
Ingredients
4 parts medicinal oil, half pine pitch oil and half plantain oil (by volume, ex: 4 ounces),
1 part beeswax (by weight, ex: 1 ounce)
Method
- Melt beeswax in pot or double boiler until melted.
- Add the oils and stir. When fully blended, remove from heat and pour into a glass container to harden.
**Want to learn more? Join Rachel’s Herbal First Aid class on June 8th, 9:30-1:30, Nevada City. Register at http://sierrabotanica.com
