Herbal Teas & Flowers

Greater Plantain Extract

Plantago major

Greater plantain (Plantago major) is a low perennial herb with a short stem and a rosette of long-stalked leaves, spoon- to egg-shaped, their veins running the length of the blade and meeting at tip and base. Small flowers sit in a slender spike on a tall stalk, above a capsule of glossy brown-black seeds. It grows wild and is cultivated throughout Vietnam, sown in spring or autumn. Leaves are picked nearly all year, fresh or dried; the whole plant is gathered in July and August as the fruit ripens and dried in sun or gentle heat. Its Vietnamese name, mã đề, means horse's hoof, after the tracks it springs up in.