Botanical Skincare Ingredients: Inside Our 9-Plant PLT-9™ Complex
Nine plants. Two slow extraction methods. Weeks of patience. One proprietary botanical complex.
There are ingredients you order.
And then there are ingredients you come to know.
You know when they emerge from the soil. You know which plants love the heat and which need more attention. You know the smell that comes off their leaves when you brush past them in the garden. You know when they're ready to be clipped, how they look as they're drying and how dramatically they can change an oil after weeks of infusion.
That is the story of PLT-9™, our proprietary nine-plant botanical complex at Meadow and Bark.
PLT-9 wasn't created because we wanted another botanical name to put on the front of a bottle.
It came from a much bigger fascination:
What can happen when we work with the complexity of a whole plant rather than focusing only on a single isolated compound?
Plants are extraordinarily sophisticated.
Within a single leaf, flower or stem can exist dozens—or hundreds—of naturally occurring constituents: flavonoids, carotenoids, polyphenols, plant sterols, triterpenes, fatty acids, polysaccharides, amino acids, minerals and other phytochemicals.
Different plants manufacture different combinations of them.
And different parts of the same plant can contain different concentrations.
That complexity fascinated us.
So instead of building PLT-9 around one fashionable botanical ingredient, we selected nine whole plants whose phytochemical profiles, traditional histories and relationship to skin made them particularly interesting to us.
They are:
Calendula.
Purslane.
Alfalfa.
Borage.
Arnica.
Meadowsweet.
Marshmallow.
Helichrysum.
Gotu kola.
Some we grow ourselves.
Others we source from growers, including medicinal-herb farms on Long Island.
We harvest, dry and extract them slowly.
And those extracts eventually become part of many of the Meadow and Bark formulas people use every day.
This is the story behind PLT-9™.
Why We Created PLT-9™
When skincare talks about plants, the conversation can sometimes become overly simplistic.
One plant becomes synonymous with one benefit.
Calendula = calming.
Gotu kola = aging skin.
Marshmallow = hydration.
But a plant isn't really one ingredient.
A plant is a miniature chemical ecosystem. It is the same way we think about botanicals like ashwagandha, where the interest is in the whole plant rather than one headline compound.
Consider calendula alone. Researchers have identified naturally occurring classes of compounds including carotenoids, flavonoids, triterpenes, saponins and polysaccharides within the genus.
Purslane contains a remarkably different collection of compounds, including flavonoids, carotenoids, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, phenolic compounds, terpenoids and betalains.
Gotu kola is particularly interesting for compounds known as triterpenes, including asiaticoside and madecassoside.
And that diversity is precisely what interested us.
We didn't want PLT-9 to be about finding one botanical superstar.
We wanted it to be about the collective complexity of plants.
That idea became the foundation of our proprietary botanical complex.
The Nine Plants in PLT-9™
1. Calendula
If there were a gateway plant into herbal skincare, calendula might be it.
Its brilliant golden-orange flowers almost announce the compounds within them.
Calendula naturally contains multiple families of phytochemicals, including carotenoids, flavonoids, triterpenoids, sterols, saponins and polysaccharides.
Its carotenoid family can include compounds such as lutein and beta-carotene, while its flowers also contain an assortment of naturally occurring flavonoids and triterpenes.
Calendula also has a long history of use in traditional botanical preparations, which helped make it a natural candidate when we began thinking about PLT-9.
But there is something else we love about calendula:
You can see its vitality.
The orange pigment stains your fingers.
The flowers transform as they dry.
The plant looks different at every stage of the extraction process.
There is something incredibly satisfying about knowing that this ingredient didn't begin as a line item on a raw-material specification sheet.
It began as a flower.
2. Purslane
Purslane may be the most underestimated plant in PLT-9.
And it is the plant I want everyone to stop pulling out of their garden before they know what it is.
Portulaca oleracea, commonly called purslane, grows low to the ground with succulent-like green leaves and often reddish stems.
To many people, it looks like a weed.
Botanically and nutritionally, it is much more interesting.
Purslane naturally contains omega fatty acids—particularly alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)—along with carotenoids, flavonoids, phenolic compounds, vitamins and minerals.
It also contains specialized plant compounds known as betalains, pigments more famously associated with plants such as beets.
Researchers have identified a surprisingly diverse group of phytochemicals in purslane, including flavonoids, alkaloids, phenolic acids, terpenoids, sterols and polysaccharides.
And unlike many plants we're discussing strictly in the context of skincare, purslane is also food.
The Moral of the Purslane Story? Eat It.
Seriously.
Once you have positively identified edible purslane growing somewhere that has not been sprayed with pesticides or other inappropriate garden chemicals, try it.
Clip the tender young leaves and stems.
Wash them well.
Take a bite.
Purslane has a fresh, slightly lemony flavor and a wonderful succulent crunch.
We love the idea of chopping it into:
-
tomato and cucumber salads
-
fresh salsa
-
Mediterranean-style chopped salads
-
herb salads
-
grain bowls
-
yogurt-based dips
You can even scatter tender leaves on top of something you're already eating.
Our garden grows food alongside the botanicals we use in skincare, so there is something especially fitting about purslane existing in both worlds.
It is a reminder that the line between plant, food, garden and skincare ingredient is sometimes much thinner than we imagine.
3. Gotu Kola
Gotu kola, or Centella asiatica, has become enormously popular in modern skincare, although its botanical history stretches back far further than the current beauty cycle.
The plant is known for naturally occurring triterpene compounds, including asiaticoside, madecassoside, asiatic acid and madecassic acid.
If you've spent time looking at sophisticated botanical skincare formulas, you may recognize some of those names.
We were interested in gotu kola long before “cica” became a skincare buzzword because it represents exactly what we love about botanical formulation:
A small, unassuming plant can contain an incredibly sophisticated collection of naturally occurring molecules.
Instead of isolating the identity of PLT-9 around one gotu kola compound, we use the plant as part of the larger nine-botanical story.
4. Marshmallow
Long before marshmallow referred to a fluffy confection, Althaea officinalis referred to a plant.
Marshmallow root is particularly interesting because of its natural mucilage polysaccharides.
If you've ever worked directly with mucilage-rich botanicals, you understand the name almost immediately. When exposed to water, these polysaccharide-rich materials can develop a distinctly slippery, viscous quality.
That texture is one of the reasons plants like marshmallow have such an extraordinary history in traditional botanical preparations.
From a formulation perspective, we find these polysaccharide-rich plants fascinating because they bring an entirely different phytochemical personality to PLT-9 than brightly pigmented flowers or fatty-acid-rich plants.
PLT-9 is intentionally diverse.
Marshmallow is part of that diversity.
5. Borage
Borage is one of those plants you never forget once you see it in bloom.
Its star-shaped blue flowers are almost impossibly beautiful.
Borago officinalis also has a long history as both a culinary and herbal plant.
Borage seed is particularly well known for its fatty-acid profile, including gamma-linolenic acid, or GLA, while different parts of the plant contain a broader collection of naturally occurring phytochemicals.
We chose borage as another dimension in the PLT-9 botanical spectrum.
Where one plant may be particularly interesting for carotenoids and another for triterpenes, borage brings another plant chemistry entirely.
6. Alfalfa
Most people associate alfalfa with agriculture.
We see something much more interesting.
Medicago sativa is a deeply rooted plant containing an assortment of naturally occurring nutrients and phytochemicals including flavonoids, saponins, plant pigments, minerals and other botanical compounds.
That diversity made alfalfa particularly compelling to us.
It's also representative of something important about PLT-9:
Not every remarkable botanical needs to be exotic.
Sometimes the plants that have surrounded humans for generations turn out to be incredibly sophisticated when you look more closely.
7. Arnica
The golden flowers of Arnica montana have a centuries-long relationship with European herbal traditions.
Arnica contains naturally occurring plant constituents including flavonoids, phenolic compounds and sesquiterpene lactones.
Because Meadow and Bark products are cosmetics, we are careful not to translate the traditional medicinal history of a plant into therapeutic claims about our products.
Instead, what interests us is the plant itself:
Its chemistry.
Its history.
Its place in traditional herbalism.
And what it contributes to the broader botanical composition of PLT-9.
There is a difference between honoring the history of a plant and claiming that a cosmetic product treats a medical condition.
We take that distinction seriously.
8. Meadowsweet
Meadowsweet—Filipendula ulmaria—is another botanical with a particularly interesting chemical story.
It naturally contains a number of plant compounds, including flavonoids, tannins and phenolic compounds.
Even its name feels right at home at Meadow and Bark.
But it was selected for more than poetry.
It adds another distinctive phytochemical profile to an already diverse botanical mixture.
That is the point.
PLT-9 isn't nine versions of the same plant.
It is nine botanicals chosen because their differences are interesting.
9. Helichrysum
Helichrysum is sometimes called the everlasting flower.
Even after drying, its flowers seem to hold onto their structure and color in an almost uncanny way.
Different Helichrysum species contain an assortment of flavonoids, phenolic compounds and aromatic plant constituents.
The plant has an extensive history in Mediterranean botanical traditions, but for us it also carries an emotional quality.
It smells like the earth.
It feels ancient.
And it is one of those ingredients that reminds you why humans have remained fascinated by plants for thousands of years.
Plants Are Complicated Chemistry
This may be my favorite way to explain our philosophy:
Plants are complicated chemistry.
When you look at a plant, you're seeing color, shape and texture.
When a phytochemist looks at that same plant, they can see an enormous library of compounds.
Flavonoids.
Polyphenols.
Carotenoids.
Terpenes and triterpenes.
Sterols.
Fatty acids.
Polysaccharides.
Amino acids.
Vitamins.
Minerals.
Pigments.
Aromatic compounds.
And an enormous number of lesser-known plant constituents.
That doesn't mean every compound survives every extraction process.
It doesn't mean every compound is present at a meaningful concentration in a finished cosmetic.
And it certainly doesn't mean putting a plant into skincare magically transfers every benefit associated with eating or traditionally using that plant.
We think that distinction matters.
Instead, our philosophy is more straightforward:
Start with interesting plants. Choose an appropriate extraction medium. Give the extraction time. Then thoughtfully formulate the resulting botanical extract into the product.
From Our Garden in Long Beach to the Bottle
A big part of PLT-9 begins at home.
We live in Long Beach, New York, surrounded by salt air and overlooking the bay.
And in the middle of that environment is our garden.
My husband has become the quiet caretaker of much of it.
Every day he goes outside.
He checks what's growing.
He prunes.
He clips.
He waters.
He sees what needs attention and what is suddenly taking over.
There is something about tending plants that gives him tremendous peace.
And while some of those plants are destined for Meadow and Bark, many others are destined for dinner.
At different points during the growing season you might find several kinds of tomatoes, spinach, kale, basil, rosemary, lemon thyme and whatever else we've decided to experiment with.
And he is an incredible cook.
So an herb clipped outside might become part of a Meadow and Bark extraction—or it might end up alongside tomatoes in that night's dinner.
That overlap is important to me.
It keeps PLT-9 from becoming an abstract “active complex.”
We remember where it came from.
We Grow What We Can
We can't grow every plant in the quantities we need.
And we don't pretend that we can.
Instead:
We grow what we can and thoughtfully source what we can't.
Some of our additional botanicals are sourced through growers and medicinal-herb farms, including farms on the eastern end of Long Island.
Working this way also keeps us connected to agriculture.
A dried botanical isn't simply “raw material.”
Someone grew it.
Someone watched the weather.
Someone harvested it.
Someone dried it.
That chain matters.
Harvesting PLT-9™
For the plants we're able to grow ourselves, extraction begins well before anything reaches a barrel.
First we grow.
Then we harvest.
We trim the selected plant material and lay it flat to dry.
This stage can't be rushed.
You're watching something that was recently alive and hydrated gradually release its moisture and become stable dried botanical matter suitable for the next stage of our process.
The colors shift.
The texture changes.
The weight changes.
The scent changes.
Then the dried plants are ready for extraction.
And this is where PLT-9 separates into two different pathways.
How We Make Our Oil-Soluble PLT-9™ Infusion
Some Meadow and Bark formulas are predominantly oil-based.
For those, we create an oil-based PLT-9 botanical infusion.
Dried PLT-9 botanicals are placed into glass vessels and submerged in selected oils.
Then something beautifully old-fashioned happens.
We put them in the sun.
This is sometimes described as solar infusion or solar extraction.
The glass vessels allow the botanicals to remain surrounded by the oil while experiencing the natural warmth generated during exposure to sunlight.
And then we wait.
You can watch the extraction evolve.
The oil changes.
The plants change.
Color gradually migrates from botanical matter into the surrounding medium.
It's an incredibly visual process—which is exactly what you're seeing in the PLT-9 reel.
In a world where we're trained to believe everything should happen faster, there is something wonderfully rebellious about an ingredient that asks you to leave it alone.
Plants.
Oil.
Glass.
Sunlight.
Time.
Why Use Oil as an Extraction Medium?
Different botanical compounds have different solubilities.
Some are more compatible with oil-based systems.
Others are more compatible with water, glycerin or other solvents.
That's why we don't believe there is one universally “best” botanical extraction.
Extraction depends on what you're extracting and where you ultimately want to use it.
Our oil infusion is particularly suited to the formulas we build around lipids, botanical oils, butters and other oil-soluble ingredients, including single-origin oils such as tamanu oil for skin.
After the infusion period is complete, we separate the spent botanical material from the infused oil.
That PLT-9 infused oil can then become part of a finished Meadow and Bark formulation.
Where You'll Find Our Oil-Infused PLT-9™
Our oil-based PLT-9 complex is incorporated into several products across the Meadow and Bark collection, including:
Botanical Serums
Our Botanical Serums marry sophisticated modern cosmetic formulation with the richness of plant oils and botanical extracts.
Everyday Sun Shield
Our oil-based PLT-9 fits naturally within the balm-like format of Everyday Sun Shield, alongside the other ingredients that create its distinctive skin feel.
Lip Formulas
The oil infusion gives us a way to carry the PLT-9 botanical story into an anhydrous lip format.
Envy Oil Cleanser
Because Envy Oil Cleanser is an oil cleanser, our oil-soluble PLT-9 infusion makes perfect sense here as well.
This is something that matters enormously in formulation:
The story has to fit the chemistry.
We don't add PLT-9 simply so the words can appear on a package.
We choose the appropriate extract for the type of formula we're making.
Our Second PLT-9™ Extraction: The Glycerite
Oil isn't the only way we extract PLT-9.
For many of our water-containing skincare formulas, we create a different botanical extract using glycerin and water.
This type of botanical preparation is often called a glycerite.
Instead of exposure to sunlight, these botanicals are kept protected from light.
The PLT-9 plant material is submerged in our glycerin-and-water extraction medium and allowed to infuse slowly for approximately four to six weeks.
During that period, the vessels are rotated regularly.
And again:
We wait.
Four weeks.
Five weeks.
Sometimes six.
The plant material remains in contact with the extraction base as different compatible constituents migrate from the botanicals into the surrounding liquid.
Eventually, the plant material is separated from the finished extract.
What remains becomes our glycerin-based PLT-9 botanical complex.
Why Glycerin?
Glycerin is one of skincare's great workhorse ingredients.
It is a humectant widely used in cosmetic formulas to help attract and hold water, supporting the hydrated feel and appearance of skin.
But glycerin can also serve another role:
botanical extraction medium.
A glycerin-and-water system can extract a different spectrum of plant constituents than oil alone.
That gives us another way to work with our nine botanicals and, importantly, another way to incorporate PLT-9 into completely different types of formulas.
Where You'll Find Our Glycerin-Based PLT-9™
Our glycerin-based PLT-9 complex appears throughout the Meadow and Bark collection, including:
-
Facial Mists
-
Glycolic Toner
-
After Sun Spray
-
Illuminating Eye Lift
-
Night Repair Crème
-
Daylight Firming Crème
-
Hibiscus Cleansing Scrub
-
Bio-Active Cleanser
One botanical complex can therefore travel through an enormous variety of textures:
A mist.
A toner.
A cleanser.
An eye treatment.
A night crème.
A daytime moisturizer.
The surrounding formulation changes.
The PLT-9 philosophy stays the same.
Traditional Plants Meet Modern Cosmetic Science
One misconception about botanical skincare is that you have to choose a side.
Plants or science.
Natural or sophisticated.
Traditional knowledge or modern formulation.
We don't see it that way.
Plants are chemistry.
And modern cosmetic science gives formulators increasingly sophisticated ways to understand and formulate alongside that chemistry.
That's why a Meadow and Bark formula might contain a slow botanical infusion alongside contemporary cosmetic ingredients.
We don't believe new automatically means better.
We don't believe old automatically means better either.
We want to use the ingredient or technique that makes sense for the formula we're creating.
Sometimes that means biotechnology.
Sometimes it means a highly refined cosmetic active.
And sometimes it means putting dried flowers into oil inside a glass vessel and letting the Long Island sun do what sunlight has been doing for millions of years.
There is room for both.
Is PLT-9™ a “Medicinal” Complex?
The plants themselves have fascinating histories within traditional herbal practices around the world.
But PLT-9 is used in cosmetic skincare formulations, and that distinction matters.
We don't claim that PLT-9 treats disease or that a Meadow and Bark cosmetic product reproduces the medicinal uses historically associated with an individual plant.
Our interest is in their botanical complexity and their use within formulas created to support the look and feel of healthy, hydrated, radiant skin.
Traditional botanical knowledge can inspire curiosity.
Modern formulation determines how we actually use an ingredient.
And responsible cosmetic marketing means respecting the difference.
Why Whole Plants?
There is enormous value in isolated cosmetic actives.
We use them.
Isolation allows chemists to identify a particular molecule, standardize it and understand how it behaves in a formulation.
But whole plants offer something different.
They offer complexity.
A calendula flower isn't one carotenoid.
Purslane isn't one fatty acid.
Gotu kola isn't one triterpene.
Each plant contains an ecosystem of naturally occurring constituents.
Not all of those constituents will necessarily be extracted by our process, and their concentration can naturally vary based on plant variety, growing conditions, harvest timing and extraction medium.
That variability is part of working with botanical material.
And it is one reason we don't describe PLT-9 as a replacement for standardized cosmetic actives.
It's something different.
It's our botanical foundation.
Seed to Bottle Isn't Just a Marketing Phrase
There is a tremendous difference between looking at an ingredient declaration and actually standing beside the plant.
You notice different things.
You notice how sticky calendula feels.
How purslane almost seems determined to grow anywhere.
How dramatic some plants become after drying.
How oils take on a completely different hue over an infusion period.
How much plant material becomes surprisingly little once dried.
You also develop respect for time.
A botanical ingredient might occupy only a few words on a cosmetic ingredient list.
But before those words existed, there was soil.
Sun.
Water.
A plant.
Harvesting.
Drying.
Extraction.
Filtration.
Formulation.
Testing.
Filling.
Packaging.
The bottle is the end of a much longer story.
Why We Call It PLT-9™
PLT = plant.
9 = nine botanicals.
Simple.
What isn't simple is everything behind it.
PLT-9 represents our belief that sophisticated skincare doesn't have to lose its connection to where ingredients originate.
We can understand phytochemistry and still get dirt under our fingernails.
We can formulate with advanced cosmetic ingredients and still wait weeks for a botanical infusion.
We can read scientific research about carotenoids, polyphenols and triterpenes and still be astonished when a calendula flower opens in the garden.
That intersection is Meadow and Bark.
The PLT-9™ Philosophy
If we had to reduce PLT-9 to a few ideas, they would be these:
Grow what we can.
Our garden keeps us connected to the source.
Source thoughtfully what we can't.
Growing everything ourselves isn't realistic. Knowing where ingredients come from still matters.
Use the whole plant intentionally.
We are interested in the natural chemical complexity of botanical material.
Choose the appropriate extraction medium.
Oil and glycerin-based extractions serve different formulation needs.
Give extraction time.
Our botanical infusions aren't instant.
Pair tradition with modern cosmetic science.
We don't believe those ideas are opposites.
Never underestimate a plant.
Especially the one you thought was a weed.
And One More Time: Don't Pull the Purslane
If PLT-9 leaves you remembering only one plant, I hope it's purslane.
Because there is something delightfully Meadow and Bark about discovering that the little succulent-looking “weed” trying to conquer the edge of your tomato bed might also be dinner.
Identify it carefully.
Make sure it hasn't been treated with chemicals you wouldn't want on food.
Wash it.
Clip the tender growth.
Try it beside your tomatoes.
Add cucumber, herbs, a little olive oil and something acidic.
Or chop it into salsa.
The texture is wonderful.
And suddenly you'll look at your garden differently.
Maybe that is the larger story of PLT-9.
We spend so much time looking for the next exotic ingredient, the next breakthrough and the next thing someone has decided we're supposed to want.
Meanwhile, extraordinary chemistry is happening quietly in plants all around us.
We just have to pay attention.
From Plant to PLT-9™ to Your Skin
Today, when you pick up a Meadow and Bark product containing PLT-9, you're seeing the final chapter of a process that may have started months earlier.
A seed or young plant.
A garden overlooking the bay.
My husband outside pruning.
A harvest.
Plants laid flat to dry.
Glass vessels.
Oil glowing in the sunlight.
Or a glycerin extraction resting quietly in darkness.
Weeks of rotation and patience.
Separation.
Formulation.
Testing.
And finally, the finished product.
That's what seed to bottle means to us.
It isn't about pretending that every ingredient grows in our backyard.
It means remaining connected to the ingredients we choose, growing what we realistically can, sourcing thoughtfully and understanding that before skincare becomes chemistry inside a bottle, much of that chemistry began inside a plant.
Nine plants.
Two extraction methods.
Weeks of patience.
One proprietary complex.
PLT-9™.
Powered by plants.
Made the Meadow and Bark way.