Plantain (herb) Vs. Plantain (fruit) - The Differences - Unruly Gardening

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These two plants have the same common name, but are very different!

One plantain (Plantago spp.) is a leafy weed used to make things like a lovely first aid salve, while the other (Musa × paradisiaca) is a starchy fruit that looks like a banana.

At a Glance

Don’t want to read through the whole article? Here’s a quick and handy chart:

A pinterest pin comparing herbal plantain with fruit plantain: the background of the pin is dark green, with white details and words.

Alright, now let’s go into detail!

Names

Plantain (Herb)

There are a couple types of plantains that are commonly used in herbal preparations – Plantago major, or broadleaf plantain, and Plantago lanceolata, or ribwort plantain.

Two plantain leaves on weathered wood. The one on the left is round and slightly shorter. The one on the right is long and slender. — A broad leafed plantain on the left, and narrow leafed plantain on the right!

These two plantain varieties are considered interchangeable, and can be substituted for each other depending on what you have available. There are also a lot more plantago varieties out there and most herbalists agree they can usually be used in similar fashion.

Related article, if you’re interested in harvesting your own herbal plantain leaves:

Foraging Plantain Leaf & Uses

Plantain (Fruit)

Plantain fruits are in the Musaceae family. Plantains can refer to any number of ‘cooking bananas’ in addition to true plantain cultivars.

Physical Traits

Plantain (Herb)

The part of the herbal plantain used most frequently is the leaves, however, the entire plant is considered edible.

The younger leaves are more tender than the older ones, and all of the leaves have strings throughout them, located in the deep ridged veins. These can be easily spotted from both sides of the leaf. Kind of like a celery stalk, but they don’t taste like celery. Just leaf taste.

Broadleaf plantain has rather egg-shaped, smooth, thick-stemmed leaves that grow low to the ground. Ribwort plantain has long, slender leaves, and has the same celery-like strings present throughout the deep leaf veins.

Plantain (Fruit)

Plantains look like a banana. Both inside and out, actually:

Two plantains, one whole, one peeled and chopped, on a plate. The plate is being held by a hand over top of a porch railing and a green bush.

However, they do not taste like a banana. They have a unique taste that’s entirely their own, and a texture rather reminiscent of a potato. They’re rather starchy overall. They range in color as they ripen, from green to yellow to black, and get sweeter as they ripen in that same order.

Uses

Plantain (herb)

Use it in your herbal concoctions!

This herb is used in teas, as a poultice, and in salves, among other uses. The Nerdy Farm Wife’s 10 Things to Make With Plantain is an excellent resource for those wanting to know more about making herbal creations with plantain.

Very young plantain leaves are also sometimes eaten raw, or blanched and boiled till tender. The old leaves are bitter and tough. Some people eat the seeds of plantain plants as well, raw or cooked. Never eat a foraged plant unless you’re absolutely certain what it is, and when it comes to ones with medicinal properties, such as plantain, that you know exactly what it will do to you to eat it.

Plantain (fruit)

Eat them!

There’s hundreds upon hundreds of recipes that use plantains up on the internet. Plantains can be baked, fried, grilled… the list goes on. If you’re curious about eating plantains, do a quick search and experiment!

These plantains can also be made into flour! Peel, slice to discs, and dry completely all the way through in a dehydrator. Once the slices of plantain are absolutely dry, they can be ground down to a flour in a coffee grinder or food processor, and the flour used in baking. There’s more than a few recipes floating about on the internet that use plantain flour, so if you like plantains, it might be worth your time to go on a recipe hunt!

Conclusion

Plantains (fruit) and plantains (herb) are very different, even though they share the same name!

Anyway, the TL;DR here is that if it looks like a banana, don’t put it in your salve, and if it’s a leaf, you can eat it if you really want to, but it’ll probably be better off floating in a jar of oil for a few months before getting turned into a salve or a balm or what-have-you.

Share on Facebook Share on Pinterest Share on Email CT Grant

CT is the original founder of Unruly Gardening. She's been planting peas and pulling weeds since she was a preschooler, following grandpa around his gardens. She loves growing heirlooms and unusual plant varieties, especially the tricky-to-grow or ultra rare ones! She lives at the foot of the Appalachian mountains with two adorable cats and a slightly out of control yarn collection.

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