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| Nettle; Urtica dioica L. |
Nettle Family; URTICACEÆ
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| Nettles have an attitude. "Go ahead," they dare, "make my day!" One innocent casual brush of human skin on nettle leaf,
brings burning pain, cursing and suffering. Nettles practiced chemical defense long before the world's human armies devised poison
gas. Because nettles are so widespread and painfully memorable, most people know them. |
| To describe nettles seems wasted words. Primal instinct teaches us --the hard way. If by chance you've never been
nettled, you really should get thee to the nearest woods and soon enough you'll experience the thrilling heat. |
| There are those who insist it is possible to pluck a nettle with bare hands in such a way as to not be stung. Moreover, to
eat the same, raw. I smile, recalling how I longed to become vegetarian after someone assured me "mosquitoes don't bite
vegetarians." Some caterpillars dine on nettle leaves, raw, regularly, even to exclusion --and appear none the worse for it. I often see slug slime
on nettles, too. Should you chance to be stung, nettle "remedies" abound, including horseradish, onions, dock, and plain mud. |
| In Seattle nettles grow mostly in woods, often under alder trees, where the soil is soft and black. They're also found in
more open areas, so long as the soil is rich and moist. The first sprouts emerge from the perennial rootstock in late January, and are
large enough to eat by March. Nettle eating, unlike dancing barefoot on hot coals, is something thousands of people routinely do, with
lip-smacking gusto. |
| To gather nettles for the table, wear gloves. In one hand carry a large paper grocery bag; in the other a pair of pruners
or scissors. Nettles from five inches to just over a foot tall are targeted, and the topmost several whorls of leaves snipped directly into
the bag. Then steam a potful for about 2 minutes. If you haven't steamed them quite long enough, your lips will let you know.
The tingling sensation is killed by the cooking, as the wicked witch of the North is killed by water. |
| You can eat your limp pile of dark greens as is, or season them with salt, butter, or whatever you like. They are
decidedly earthy in aroma, mildly grainy in texture, with extraordinary nutritional value, especially in protein and Vitamin A. One of the
premier wild edible plants. The conversation value for guests at your meal is also superb. Use nettles in any recipe where spinach is called for. |
| In medicine, nettles have been used for anemia, broken bones, heart problems, herpes, leukemia, nose bleeds, poor
blood-clotting and more. |
| Nettle flowers appear from mid-May well into June or early July. They are inconspicuous, minute, pale greenish,
dangling affairs that contribute to hayfever. Nettles spread more from creeping roots than from seed. Colonies sometimes cover acres.
The tallest reach nearly 9 feet. The stems are square and leaves opposite (like a mint). The largest leaf, not including its stem, is more
than 8 inches long, coarsely toothed, deepest green, covered with bristly white hairs. |
| Nettles are circumpolar and our common stinging species is one of only about 15 out of 100
native weeds-of-the-months. There is also a summer-annual European nettle occasionally pestering us
(Urtica urens). The genus Urtica is related to
Cannabis (hemp) and Humulus (hop), The nettle stem fibers can be made into thread, rope, paper or cloth. |
| Nettles, universally so called in English, are not to be confused with thistles. The latter stab with spines but don't use
poison sap to harm our skin. Plants of the genus
Lamium in the mint family have been called Dead Nettle because their harmless leaves
recall those of the evil one. And Hedge Nettle
(Stachys) grows in wet soil and bears showy pink or magenta flowers. These two herbs
are also edible, but have hairy leaves of muted flavor, not to mention no thrill involved. |
In the Language of Flowers nettles signify slander, or 'You are cruel." A quaint old English nickname is Naughty
Man's Plaything.
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Originally published as the Seattle Tilth newsletter Weed of the Month in February 1995, along with an illustration from a book.
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