Urtica dioica, pic and description

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Heres the plant pic and description, in case anyone has any doubts whether they are looking at the right plant. Elaine

http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/nettle.htm

Urtica dioica, stinging nettle, nettle. Urticaceae. The culinary herb, and a great medicinal plant, too. Stings, but we all need some defense. Lots of trace minerals. Diuretic. Get the seeds, dry them, use them one spoonful each day to keep the doctor away.

 

 

 

 

Stinging Nettle( Urtica dioica )

A member of the Urticaceae family (Urtica is from the Latin urere - 'to burn') with about 500 species worldwide, some in the Far East can produce a sting which burns for days. It is a perennial reaching about 1.2 metres in height.The dark green leaves oppose each other on the stem, they are 5 to 15 cm long and 2 to 5 cm wide, serrated and with a tapered end. Tiny stiff hairs on the leaves are hollow enabling them to inject a cocktail including formic acid and histamine which causes a painful rash. This stinging does not occur when they are dried or cooked.The flowers appear in the summer, they are tiny, greenish or greenish-white hanging down in clusters just above where the leaves attach to the stem.

Continual close mowing will kill them, but the thick yellow roots remain for a year or two and will regenerate if mowing stops - eventually they die and grass will establish. I find that if they are pulled at the mature stage the thick surface roots tend to come away too and the nettles may not return or do so in reduced numbers. Although the finer roots go down fairly deeply, if the thick roots are removed any regrowth is sparce and weak.A systemic or translocated herbicide will kill them, eg Gylphosate.

 

Nettles have been used for over 2,000 years in herbal medicine and as a pot herb. Young shoots contain about the same amounts of beta-carotene and vitamin C as spinach and other greens. They also contain lots of nitrogen and can be added to the compost heap to promote decomposition or used to make a liquid manure. This juice can be diluted to make in insecticidal spray (if a bit smelly) and a bunch of nettles hung in the kitchen deters flies. The stalks contain strong fibres which have been used to make cloth, sails or twine.Today the root is used to treat inflammation of the prostate. The stinging properties of the leaves have been utilised in the past. Medieval monks flagellated themselves as a penance, others have done this to ease rheumatism and arthritis pain, like a heat rub - the counter-irritant effect. Roman soldiers used the warming effect to adapt to the cold, damp, British climate, rubbing the Nettles on their arms and legs.

Nicholas Culpepper (17th century astrologer-physician)" The roots or leaves, or the juice of them, boiled and made into an electuary with honey and sugar, is a safe and sure medicine to open the passages of the lungs, which is the cause of wheezing and shortness of the breath. It helps to expectorate phlegm and to raise the imposthumed pleurisy. As a gargle it helps the swelling of the mouth and throat.A decoction of the leaves provokes the courses and urine and expels gravel and stone. It kills worms in children, eases pain in the sides and dissolves wind in the spleen.The seed taken as a drink is remedy against the bites of dogs and the poisinous qualities of Hemlock, Henbane, Nightshade and Mandrake. The bruised seed or leaves put into the nostrils takes away the polypus. The juice of the leaves or a decoction of the root is used as a wash for fistulas and gangrenes and for corroding scabs or itch."