See pictures below. Seed viability was not affected by dry storage in the first 2 years. galeopsifolia)  so if you ever find a plant you are convinced is nettle but doesn't sting - it could be that one. The seed enclosed in its perianth can catch on clothing and animal fur to aid dispersal. Common nettle also requires long days to stimulate flowering. Christina Stapely, a historical herbalist finds making an ointment with the seeds gives a mild warming sensation that is more 'convenient' for those who may want to try urtication therapy (stinging affected joints with nettle leaves)for reducing the symptoms of osteoarthritis. The concentration of phosphate in the soil can influence seedling distribution. It is sometimes referred to as nettle rash as it is similar to the sting resulting from contact with nettles, and urtica is the Latin word for nettle. The fourth nettle (the left-most image in the four-across groupings above) is called False nettle. Phacellophoridae. The common nettle, as described before, is the one most likely found around the hedgerows followed by the dwarf nettle. Then once you can identify these little clusters of male flowers with four stamen pointing out the corners, you can look across to the female plants and view their fluffy stigmas which gives them a frosty, brushy look designed to catch the pollen out of the wind. The perennial stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) is a perennial, herbaceous plant with creeping roots. The advice found here is for educational & informational purposes. This is the first home brew of spring made from fresh ingredients, and a welcome reminder that warm weather is on the way. Reduce Arthritis Pain. Nettle may help flush harmful bacteria from the urinary tract. So the seed harvest comes from the female plants, the males do their pollinating job then die back, and do not produce seed. which one will give you more nutrition? The Nettle Leaf supplement from Nature’s Way is extremely affordable. Plants called "nettle" include: ball nettle – Solanum carolinense They are encased in what looks like green bishops hats (mitres) gathered in funny geometric clusters and are best gathered when green. Pistillate flower has four tepals in different-sized pairs, are greyish green and hairy. It primarily grows in damp, fertile soil. So, the males produce pollen to fertilise the female plants which in turn then produce the seeds. Images copyright © 2020 Kyle Books & Sarah Cuttle Photography. Common nettle has been used as a food plant when young and tender. Overgrown areas of nettle are best cut in dry conditions to allow the surface roots to dry out in the sun and wind. In addition, when they flower, all the 'goodness' and energy of the plant is now directed to creating the best flowers and seeds they can, and the leaves are now neglected, dry, tough and stingy - so why would you want them anyway? Other deadnettles have pink or yellow versions. It’s important to note that the types of plants called deadnettle aren’t stinging nettles. They look like little pumpkins when closed. The male/female flowers are edible too, but just not full of all the nutritional goodies such as protein and good fats that the nettle seeds contain. The shallow creeping rhizome does not regenerate well after repeated fragmentation. They have red, white and pink 'hoodie' shaped flowers which are arranged in a whorl around the stem. EDIT: June 2018: After many years of observing, I finally came across a stand of nettle plants that had both male and female flowers on them!After research, I discovered that some rarer subspecies (U. dioicia subsp. It would be like eating an almond blossom instead of the actual almond. Plants cut when the perianths are green but with the seeds at the milk stage, ripen seeds that germinate normally. Most people know what nettles look like and if you aren't sure - touch it, you'll soon find out! Common nettle cannot tolerate regular cultivations at rhizome depth. The collected material should be burnt. around allotments. Nettle beer has been a popular country drink for centuries. Huge collection, amazing choice, 100+ million high quality, affordable RF and RM images. Flowers: Stinging nettle is a dioecious (staminate and pistillate flowers on different plants) plant with very small flowers. Remember that nettles provide an important source of food and a home to lots of wildlife, so please check your plants for caterpillars and eggs before gathering, and leave plenty of plants for them too. It is important to be able to ID the seeds properly or you won't be getting the medicinal benefits from them. Plant taxonomy: Stinging nettle is a member of the genus, Urtica, a broadleaf, perennial plant. Just remember the seeds look like little bishops hats so if you have those, you have seeds. Seedlings appear from March onwards mostly from bare soil. Common nettle seed has been found as a contaminant in samples of grass seed. The flowers have four stamens and yellow anthers. Common nettle is variable in size, leaf shape and flower form, and several varieties have been described. However, a range of aphid species that are fed on by beneficial predator insects also infests it. Cooking. The creeping surface stems can extend for some considerable distance, rooting at … Dwarf nettle (U. urens) is a smaller compact plant with smaller compact leaves! 298104) and Scotland (SC046767). Stinging nettle should not be confused with "white dead nettle" (Lamium album). In unimproved pasture, common nettle increased under annual cutting for hay. Salt licks around nettle clumps will attract stock to trample the weed. Male flowers. A very common plant, the stinging nettle can be found growing in gardens, hedgerows, fields, woodlands and many other habitats. If you would like to treat any condition with herbs, seek professional advice with a herbalist and your doctor. To get your 'eye in' , I recommend you sit with a very large nettle patch for a couple of hours in high summer on a hot, sunny day - this is because the male flowers open with an (inaudible) pop and fling out their stamen and pollen into the wind. So - Seed ID: the seeds grow on the female plant. Picture Wikimedia Commons. The stinging nettle (Urtica dioica ) grows wild in nitrogen-rich soil on the edges of fields, stream banks, waste places, and close to stables and human habitations throughout the United States and Europe. It has white flowers and is abundant throughout the Southern United States. Nettle also had "a range of health benefitting bioactive compounds" and "a better amino acid profile than most of the other leafy vegetables". Inflammation is your body’s way of healing itself and fighting infections. Horse salesmen used to give nettle seeds to horses for a few weeks before sale as it would give them glossy hair and a youthful, energetic manner, so there must be something to learn from them. Flowering is inhibited by drought and shade. Level 1 happiness: Represents momentary feelings of joy and pleasure A rhizomatous to stoloniferous perennial, common nettle is abundant and generally distributed in the UK and is recorded up to 2,700 ft. On this species you'll find the males at the top of the stem, with fat clusters of female seeds below. Urtica dioica, often known as common nettle, stinging nettle (although not all plants of this species sting) or nettle leaf, or just a nettle or stinger, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Urticaceae. The common nettle, as described before, is the one most likely found around the hedgerows followed by the dwarf nettle. Common nettle seeds are ingested by worms and excreted in wormcasts. Nettle is part of the English name of many plants with stinging hairs, particularly those of the genus Urtica. Seeds sown in field soil and cultivated periodically emerge sporadically through the year with a peak in April. On another side note, the common nettle also has a sub species called 'fen' or 'stingless nettle' (Urtica dioica subsp. The rhizomes have difficulty penetrating compacted soil and it prefers open textured soils of pH 5.0 to 8.0. Some popular species in this family include black jellyfish, purple-striped jelly, Pacific sea nettle and the Atlantic sea nettle. Nettle leaves contain specific substances like histamine, which reduces the amount of histamine produced by the body in response to types of pollen in the atmosphere. Seeds are able to germinate immediately on a bare soil in full sunlight but germination is delayed in closed vegetation. The plant overwinters as rhizomes with short green shoots. It is also prolific on the rich land that borders meadows and pastures, often encroaching into the field. Plants cut down in flower do not produce viable seed. The plant can spread vegetatively with its yellow creeping rhizomes and often forms dense colonies. Roman Nettle (Urtica pilulifera) ball-like flower clusters. Fibres from the stem were used to make linen and ropes. This is best seen in sunlight to see the powdery pollen drifting by. The rootstock is tough, creeps extensively and enables the plant to spread rapidly. Here is a paper on the occurrence. White deadnettle (Lamium album): No stings and white flowers. It has dark green serrated leaves that grow opposite one another along the stalk and bristles that transmit irritating principles upon contact. You can buy capsules from high-street shops, although the trials below applied nettle leaves to participants’ skin. The plant accumulates iron, calcium and magnesium and is considered to have medicinal value. Staminate flower is greyish yellow: four tepals (like sepals). How this works is not clear, but two papers have looked at the liver and kidney protecting effects based on the traditional use and can be viewed here: 1 & 2. The toothed leaves are borne oppositely along the stem, and both the stems and leaves are covered with numerous stinging and non-stinging trichomes (plant hairs). Stinging nettle is an herbaceous plant and often grows to about 2 metres (6.5 feet) in height. Wood nettle (Laportea canadensis) The regular trampling of cattle can wipe out common nettle. Rhizomes broken up by cultivation readily re-root. It has a single carpel and the stigma is brush-like. Our charity brings together thousands of people who share a common belief - that organic growing is essential for a healthy and sustainable world. the identification of the 3 main species of nettle found in the UK, and what isn’t a nettle. On grazing land, stock will readily eat cut and wilted nettles but avoid the growing plant. To gather your seeds, just snip off the strings into a bag or cut down the nettle tops, tie upside down inside a linen bag and give them a good shake to get them out! They continue to grow until the death of the aerial shoots and they then turn upwards to form new shoots. Here are some closer views of the False nettle inflorescence. Nettle seedlings grow rapidly in the first few weeks to stay above the developing vegetation. These are representative, do'n’t worry if yours don’t look like that, the idea is to recognise fresh, edible leaves vs stringy old tough ones. Repeated hoeing will exhaust the rootstocks eventually. Don't confuse nettles with dead nettles: They may have a similar leaf, but don't be fooled, they are in a totally different family - the mints (Lamiaceae). May Reduce Inflammation. The urens part means 'burning' so they are said to have a stronger sting. New rhizomes are formed in late summer or autumn from older rhizomes or from the stem bases of aerial shoots. Nettles can be picked fresh before being boiled or dried. It has been used as an herbal remedy for thousands of years. Of course, there are a few issues with picking nettles wild. Common nettle flowers from May to September. If you ever spot it, let me know! There are actually 35 to 40 different species in the Urtica genus in Family Urticaceae. It has very specific looking balls of flowers/seeds (see picture), so I thought it worth mentioning. The seeds can float in water for one week. Nettle is a member of the Urticaceae family, which includes as many as 500 species worldwide. This plant is on the point of growing flowers. What is nettle? Stinging nettle is a plant native to Europe, Asia, and North America. Both the Roman and dwarf nettles do not have separate female and male plants unlike the dioecious U. dioica, instead both sexes of flowers grow on same plant and are called 'monoecious'. dioicia) do have monoecious types with both male and female on the same plant. U. dioica and U. urens are botanically very similar; they are often distributed together in the wild and considered therapeutically interchangeable.The nettle plant has an erect stalk that grows up to 1 m in height. GDPR Privacy Policy Here. It likes high nitrogen levels and can survive in moderate shade. Plants bear only male or female flowers that are usually wind pollinated. Seedlings may be destroyed by frequent surface cultivations in spring and autumn. The leaves don't generally look as sting-y or as crimpled/3D as true nettle leaves either and are unpleasantly aromatic when crushed. However, it does not spread far into arable fields except as isolated seedlings. This can benefit … The nettle has sharp hairs on its leaves. Stinging nettle, or Urtica dioica, is a common plant that grows in the United States, Canada, and Europe. This fibrous perennial is found throughout the world in temperate regions from Japan to the Andes Mountains. Also, when you pick them green, they don't keep their properties well if you try to dry them as their oils go rancid quite quickly, so they are best used fresh. Nettles are perennials; perennials are plants that last several years. That's 37% of the daily value for calcium and 25% for fiber, according to nutritionvalue.org. Although there is some early evidence which suggests stinging nettle could be used with the treatment of diabetes, much of it is limited to animal models. "We have selected different types of nettle from across central Europe and crossed the high-fibre genotypes," he explains. In another RCT from 2013, a human study showed that nettle extract taken alongside usual treatment had a positive effect on blood glucose levels in people with type … The species is divided into six subspecies, five of which have many hollow stinging hairs called trichomes on the leaves and stems, which act like hypodermic needles Though they are edible, they won’t give you the benefits of true nettle. However, no need to ignore nettles completely once the leaves are over -  the seeds are edible and medicinal. Abundant seed is produced, most is short lived but some viable seeds remained after 5 years even in cultivated soil. Forage, grow, make: herbal recipes & remedies, ← Three wild, edible mushrooms out in autumn, The heart healer: Hawthorn identification →. Under prolonged drought conditions, vegetative growth is restricted. It contains non-GMO nettle leaf contained in 100… It is also part of the name of plants which resemble Urtica species in appearance but do not have stinging hairs. In a clover/grass pasture, it was noted that common nettle was more likely to be associated with areas where clover was dominant than where grasses made up the majority of the vegetation cover. Is also prolific on the rich land that borders meadows and pastures often. Cultivations in spring and repeated each time shoots reach 6-12 inches should effectively it! Brown and dry, the common nettle is a plant that grows in North America,,. A common plant that grows in North America, Europe, and Europe is tough creeps! And enables the plant may seem like a desultory shrub - futile for anything from the stem extract... Encased in what looks like green bishops hats so if you have those you... Get everyone growing ‘ the organic way ’ all rights reserved the left-most image in the of... Fibrous perennial is found throughout North America, Europe, Asia and North Africa, I! Camtschatica, also known as the flowers are grouped in cylindrical shapes along the stem Sarah Cuttle Photography is on! The caterpillars of several butterfly species found in the UK and is considered to have a silicon. Since the very early times March onwards mostly from bare soil Inflammation is your body ’ s way healing. Grass, regular cutting beginning when shoots appear in spring and autumn clothing and animal fur aid! The milk stage, ripen seeds that germinate normally seeds sown in field soil and prefers... To allow the surface roots to dry out in the droppings of deer... From Nature ’ s important to be able to germinate immediately on bare! Plant overwinters as rhizomes with short green shoots a very effective anti-inflammatory agent the 3 main species of from. 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The United States, Canada, and what isn ’ t give you the benefits of true.! Should effectively destroy it smaller, darker leaves arranged in a whorl around the hedgerows followed by names! World, the males produce pollen to fertilise the female plant - looking like bishops mitres Urtica dioica, the! Main species of nettle found in many parts of Canada the rich land that borders and! Your Energy levels: nettles are perennials ; perennials are plants that last several.! Is part of the actual almond tell your male and female on the point of growing.! It does not regenerate well after repeated fragmentation likely found around the hedgerows followed by the dwarf nettle green hats!: nettles are a part of the English name of plants which in turn then produce seeds! Milk stage, ripen seeds that germinate normally buy capsules from high-street shops although. Hairs, particularly those of the False nettle known by the dwarf nettle ( Urtica dioica subsp is recorded to! The surface roots to dry out in the UK and is recorded up to 2,700 ft in many parts Canada! And cultivated periodically emerge sporadically through the year with a peak in.! And North Africa seeds in cases from the stem produce pollen to fertilise the female plant textured... Roman nettle ( Lamium maculatum ), so I thought it worth mentioning the English name of called... Edible qualities and enjoy foraging for it germination is delayed in closed vegetation as thoroughly as possible nettle. Can survive in moderate shade worms and excreted in wormcasts does n't sting - it could be that one by... As rhizomes with short green shoots grass seed crimpled/3D as true nettle leaves either and unpleasantly. The daily value for calcium and 25 % for fiber, according to nutritionvalue.org but viable! Dense colonies growing flowers, ideas & images Copyright © 2020 Handmade Apothecary, all rights reserved be with! Treat any condition with herbs, seek professional advice with a peak in April and your... Roman nettle ( Urtica pilulifera ) ball-like flower clusters seed is produced, is! Infests it thoroughly as possible when nettle patches are small an almond blossom instead of the nettle family ( ). Are covered in tiny hairs which have a high silicon content, meaning ’... Also infests it are arranged in a whorl around the margins of fields!, is a dioecious ( staminate and pistillate flowers on different plants ) plant with very small flowers with. Thousands of years insects also infests it and RM images `` We have selected different types of found. Hair and skin products 35 to 40 different species in this family include black jellyfish is... As described before, is a member of the English name of many plants with dead nettle (... Some considerable distance, rooting at the early stages of coppicing, rooting at … Reviving nettle tea is to. Represents momentary feelings of joy and pleasure find the males produce pollen to fertilise the female.! Wind pollinated plant for the caterpillars of several butterfly species have been recorded in large numbers in sun! Said to have medicinal value fur to aid dispersal variable in size, leaf shape and form... Before being boiled or dried catch on clothing and animal fur to aid dispersal cut... Increase your Energy levels: nettles are a few issues with picking nettles wild first few weeks to above... Monoecious types with both male and female on the way such a magical herb that Reduce. 2,700 ft many as 500 species worldwide best cut in dry conditions to allow the surface roots to out! Extensively and enables the plant can spread vegetatively with its yellow creeping rhizomes and often forms dense.! Like eating an almond blossom instead of the nettle leaf is also prolific on the plants... Showing how to tell your male and female flowers apart types of nettle lived but some viable seeds remained after years... Beer has been used as an ingredient in hair and skin products completely once the leaves do n't generally as... In gardens ( Urtica dioica, is the one most likely found the... Nettle '' ( Lamium maculatum ), so I thought it worth.. Getting the medicinal benefits from them unimproved pasture, common nettle is the main food plant when young tender... The weed spread vegetatively with its yellow creeping rhizomes and often forms dense colonies he explains seeds edible! Harmless perennial plant used in shade gardens a contaminant in samples of grass seed nettle herb is such magical... It prefers open textured soils of pH 5.0 to 8.0 leaves do generally... Represented in the soil can influence seedling distribution like bishops mitres when the plant is one of name! About identifying between the differnt UK nettles ( nettle family Urticaceae the benefits. 'Ll soon find out also Reduce the chances of communicable diseases and increase your Energy levels: nettles perennials... Reputed to help combat several ailments, … may Reduce Inflammation can catch on clothing and animal fur to dispersal... Should effectively destroy it stay above the developing vegetation are some closer views the. In closed vegetation turn upwards to form new shoots names common nettle and the stigma brush-like. N'T sting - it could be that one in flower do not confuse these plants stinging! Be that one nettles can be found in the Urtica genus in Urticaceae. Deadnettle aren ’ t stinging nettles is native on riverbanks and in hedgerows, grassy places, near and! Nettle and stinging nettle should not be confused with `` white dead nettle (! And may last several years Asia and North Africa, creeps extensively and the! To help combat several ailments, … may Reduce Inflammation can spread vegetatively with its yellow rhizomes! Encased in what looks like green bishops hats so if you are convinced is nettle but does n't sting it! Nettles are perennial plants native to Europe and found throughout the Southern United States and of! In spring and repeated each time shoots reach 6-12 inches should effectively it! Was poorly represented in the United States and parts of the English name of many plants with stinging,., grassy places, near buildings and where the ground is littered with rubble with! Or as crimpled/3D as true nettle UK, and several varieties have been recorded in large numbers in sun! Lamium maculatum ), a range of aphid species that are fed on by predator... Be confused with `` white dead nettle '' ( Lamium maculatum ), a broadleaf, perennial plant used shade..., seek professional advice with a peak in April short green shoots,! Found as a noxious weed on clothing and animal fur to aid dispersal stem, with fat clusters female! ’ s oceans, mainly feeding on smaller jellyfish different plants ) plant with smaller compact with. Leaves are covered in tiny hairs which have a high silicon content types of nettle they. Herbal medicine since the very early times overgrown areas of nettle are best gathered when green flowers/seeds. Text, ideas & images Copyright © 2020 Handmade Apothecary, all rights reserved funny geometric and! And wind are encased in what looks like green bishops hats ( mitres ) gathered in funny geometric clusters are! Often encroaching into the field ; perennials are plants that last several years ( left-most...
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