Stinging nettle - WEMPlapedia, the wild edible and medicinal plant encyclopedia

Urtica dioica

Urticaceae

Edible Uses

Leaf

A soup, vegetable dish, risotto can be prepared of the fresh nettle leaves. The dried leaves can be used as a spice, due to its high mineral and vitamin content, it is very helpful in wintertime.

Medicinal Uses

Leaf

Infusion made of dried nettle leaves can be used both externally and internally. The herbal tea, consumed regularly during one or two weeks, is an effective blood purifier. It also helps to the kidney in a proper operation, it prevents the formation of kidney stones by its diuretic properties. The infusion applied on the hair after shampoing strengthens the hair follicles, thereby reduces hair loss. It can also be used as a seat bath to treat hemorrhoids. The juice of fresh leaves has the same effects.

The decoction made of the dried rhizome has a glucose lowering effect and alleviates problems resulting from the prostate enlargement in older men.

Main Characteristics

He is a herbaceous plant with a big variaty in height : it varies between 30 cm and 150 cm. He likes the nitrogen-rich soils, but he is very widespread. Stems and leaves are covered with stinging hairs. The stems are rectangular. The leaves are borne oppositely, the leaf margin is serrated, their shape is very diverse: they vary from rhomboid to oblanceolate, also some other shapes. The green flowers appear in dense axillary, catkin-like inflorescences, that hang down or stand upwards, depending on the sex of the plant.

Habitats

Along the road side

Beech forest

Hayfield

Mesic deciduous forest

River or stream bank

Shrub forest

Weed associations

Harvesting aid

Leaf

April, August, July, June, March, May, October, September

For edible uses, the best is to gather the tender shoot ends before flowering. The rest of the year, the four upper pairs of leaf can be taken. The older leaves are also edible, but less tasty. For therapeutic purposes, intact leaves may be collected throughout the year. Pruning shears and gloves should be used for the gathering in order to avoid painful nettle stings. You need to remove leaves from the stems before any further use. If you only want to gather a small amount and do not have these tools, it helps to know that, if you remove the leaves slowly, carefully with the nails, you cab avoid stings.

December, February, January, November, October

The rhizome can be gathered from late autumn to spring. It is not deep in the soil, but spread out. If you want to collect large quantities, it's worthto loosen the soil with a spade, then you can easily collect larger amounts of rhizome. They are then thoroughly washed.

Confusion with other plants

Lamium album

White deadnettle

In many cases, the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) may be confused before flowering with different dead nettle species such as the white nettle. We can clearly distinguish the two species on the basis of the stinging hairs : the dead nettle species do not have stinging hairs. Both species are edible with similar uses. However, it is important to distinguish these species from a medicinal point of view.