Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata )

Out for an amble with Kanyl on the Keswick to Threlkeld "Railway Line" again.   As I left home I wondered if we would end up getting wet.  Fortunately it didn't rain but on the way home it was clear that it had been raining just not where we were.

This plantain flower has always attracted me, perhaps it is the exposed anthers with no stigma in sight.  It seems the Ribwort plantain has over the years been a medicine cupboard on its own.  It has been used as an antihistamine, antifungal,antioxidant, analgesic and even a mild antibiotic.

One reference claims the traditional rubbing a dock leaf for nettle stings is merely a placebo and Ribwort being an antihistamine actually works.