I'm Cherokee and we use many medicinal plants. One that grows almost everywhere, except in arid regions, is Plantain. The leaves somewhat resemble rounded young dandelion leaves before they become sawtoothed. This plant is well worth knowing because it is a very strong antibiotic on cuts, wounds, bites and stings. You pull off a leaf, or a few depending on the size of the area needing treatment, then heat it with a lighter till it wilts. Roll it between your fingers and it becomes very juicy and sticky. Then you simply apply it to the wound, bite or sting. It becomes so sticky, unless covering a large area, you need no bandage. To give you an example of how well it works my brother-in-law was bitten on the arm by a dog. He'd gone to the doctor but two days later when we arived his arm was very red, hot and swollen. He was in misery. My wife stepped out in the yard, Plantain grows as I said almost everywhere, and picked a few leaves. After heating them, and rolling them in her fingers, she flattened them back out and stuck them on his arm over the bite. Within an hour the reddness and swelling was completely gone as was the fever in the arm. He was even able to use it without any pain. Every mom or outdoorsman should know this plant.
