Plantain in your yard? Before you pull up this small green perennial weed, consider this story. The goddess Demeter encountered a maiden weeping for her lover's return. Taking pity on the girl, Demeter transformed her into the plantain, naming her from the Latin word for foot and urging her to travel every road to find her lost lover-which accounts for the fact that plantain is found around the world. The Anglo-Saxons included this ubiquitous plant as one of their nine sacred herbs, calling it by the descriptive name way broad. Many other cultures have used it to treat everything from wounds and burns to kidney ailments. So if you're thinking of killing plantain, think again. Demeter might be offended-and who knows what kind of plant she might turn you into!