A Morning Foggy Weed Walk - Discovering Ribwort

At 6am recently, I headed out across the farm to have a closer look at some of the weeds that grow wild here. As we try to farm in a more regenerative way, I’m learning to embrace the weeds. Some can even be quite useful.

One of the plants growing in abundance here is Ribwort, Plantago lanceolata. It happens to be a herb I use a lot in my practice as a naturopath. It’s not native to Australia. Ribwort is native through much of temperate Eurasia, parts of North Africa and Macaronesia, but it has naturalised widely around the world and is now very much at home in Australian paddocks, roadsides, lawns and any kind of previously disturbed ground.

Once you know what you’re looking for, it’s pretty easy to spot.

The leaves grow in a low rosette and are long and narrow with very obvious parallel ribs running through them. The botanical name lanceolata refers to the lance or spear-shaped leaves, while the name Ribwort comes from the prominent ribs. It is one of those plants that is fairly tough and copes well with being walked on, grazed, mown and generally interfered with - probably one of the reasons it does so well around a farm.

Learning to look differently at weeds

One of the things we’re trying to understand better at Woodlawn is what the plants already growing here might be telling us about the land. Ribwort has a well-developed root system. Depending on the plant and growing conditions, it can develop a main deeper root as well as a network of finer roots closer to the surface. Living roots create pathways through the soil, contribute organic material as roots grow and die, and provide an active root zone where plants and soil microorganisms interact.

That is part of the change in thinking for us.

Rather than simply seeing a paddock full of unwanted weeds, we’re starting to ask what is growing and why it is growing there. Sometimes the presence of a weed can suggest certain soil deficiencies but not every weed actually needs to be eliminated as some agricultural practices would have us believe. And in the case of Ribwort, I’m certainly happy to have some around.

Ribwort as a medicinal herb

Ribwort is a herb I know well from my work as a herbalist. Plantago lanceolata has been used in Western herbal medicine particularly for the respiratory tract.
It has traditionally been described as an expectorant, demulcent, astringent and anti-catarrhal herb, with an affinity for irritated mucous membranes.
Ribwort is still used for coughs, particularly where the throat and airways are irritated, as well as catarrhal conditions of the upper respiratory tract.

This is where some of the older herbal terminology becomes quite useful:-

A demulcent herb is one that has a soothing effect on irritated tissue.

An anti-catarrhal herb is traditionally used where there is excessive or troublesome mucus production.

And an astringent action refers to the ability of certain plant constituents to tone and tighten tissue.

Ribwort manages to cover all of these areas, which is part of what makes it such a useful respiratory herb.

Not just a respiratory herb

The fresh leaves also have a strong tradition of topical use.
They have been crushed or bruised and applied directly to minor wounds, bites, stings and irritated skin. There are records of both Plantago lanceolata and its broader-leaved relative, Plantago major, being used this way in traditional medicine across a number of countries.

Modern research has also started looking more closely at Plantago species and wound healing. Studies of P. lanceolata extracts have demonstrated anti-inflammatory and wound-healing activity in laboratory and animal models. It is great when a very old traditional application continues to attract scientific attention.

As a naturopath, that is often the part I find most interesting - seeing where traditional use and modern research begin to overlap.

A plant with some interesting chemistry

Like most medicinal plants, Ribwort doesn’t contain one single “active ingredient”.
The leaves contain a mixture of constituents including iridoid glycosides such as aucubin and catalpol, phenylethanoid glycosides including acteoside and plantamajoside, flavonoids, tannins and polysaccharides or mucilaginous compounds.

Different preparations will extract different parts of that chemistry. A water infusion, tincture and fresh-leaf preparation are not chemically identical, which is worth remembering whenever we talk about what a herb “contains”.

That is also why traditional preparation methods matter.

A few other things about Ribwort

The flower heads sit at the top of long, slender stems and are wind pollinated rather than relying heavily on showy flowers to attract insects. The seeds are also interesting. When they become wet, the outer layer develops a sticky mucilage. This helps them adhere to surfaces and is one of the ways Plantago species manage to get themselves around so effectively.

It is a very successful little plant. Perhaps too successful if you are trying to keep a perfect lawn.

Why Ribwort ended up on my labels

Ribwort isn't actually an ingredient in my Rejuvenating Facial Oil or Hydrating Antioxidant Moisturiser. I just love the structure of the plant. I drew a Ribwort plant some time ago and that drawing seemed to find its way onto the labels of both products.

At the time it was really an aesthetic choice, but it also reflects something that sits at the heart of House of Herbs - my interest in the plants themselves and my love of drawing them, not just the ingredients that eventually end up in a jar.

So this was the first of what will probably become a few 'Woodlawn weed walks'.
There are certainly plenty more weeds to talk about around here.