Stung by a bee and want to get the stinger out? Why, you need only wander into your yard and pick some leaves off a plantain plant. Chop them up (or chew them up… but don’t swallow them!), and apply directly to the sting site. Plantain will do the work of extracting the stinger. It will also relieve the itch and burn of a multitude of bug bites and stings.
You’ve probably seen this wild perennial plant a hundred times: in the yard, at the baseball field, growing along the road and in between cracks in the sidewalk. It’s everywhere, and thrives in disturbed areas. It has a whole host of medicinal purposes and is believed to have antimicrobial properties. Plantain has oval-shaped leaves that grow in a rosette pattern of sorts, with tall, flowering green-brown stalks growing upright from the center. Head outside and look for it now!