Urtica dioica, often known as common nettle, burn 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. Originally native to Europe, much of temperate Asia and western North Africa,
The plant has a long history of use as a source for traditional medicine, food, tea, and textile raw material in ancient (such as Saxons) and modern societies.
Description
Urtica dioica is a
dioecious,
Herbaceous plant, and
perennial plant. It grows to tall in the summer and dying down to the ground in winter.
It has widely spreading
and
, which are bright yellow, as are the roots. The soft, green
leaves are long and are borne oppositely on an erect, wiry, green stem. The leaves have a strongly serrated margin, a cordate base, and an acuminate tip with a terminal leaf tooth longer than adjacent laterals. It bears small, greenish or brownish, numerous flowers in dense axillary inflorescences.
The leaves and stems are very hairy with non-stinging hairs, and in most subspecies, also bear many stinging hairs ( or spicules), whose tips come off when touched, transforming the hair into a needle that can inject several chemicals causing a painful sting or paresthesia, giving the species its common names: stinging nettle, burn-nettle, burn-weed, or burn-hazel.
Taxonomy
Credit for the scientific naming of
Urtica dioica is given to
Carl Linnaeus, who published it in
Species Plantarum in 1753.
The taxonomy of
Urtica species is confused, and sources are likely to use a variety of systematic names for these plants. Until 2014 there was broad consensus that the nettles native to the Americas, now classified as
Urtica gracilis, were
subspecies of
U. dioica. However, in that year the paper "Weeding the Nettles II" was published in the journal
Phytotaxa demonstrating the genetic distinctness of New World nettles.
As of 2023 Plants of the World Online (POWO) recognizes
U. gracilis as a distinct species while the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS database continues to list it as
U. dioica subsp.
gracilis, as does the
Flora of North America.
As of 2023 POWO recognizes 11 subspecies or varieties of U. dioica:
-
Urtica dioica subsp. afghanica Chrtek, from southwestern and central Asia, sometimes has stinging hairs or is sometimes hairless.
-
Urtica dioica subsp. dioica (European stinging nettle), from Europe, Asia, and northern Africa, has stinging hairs.
-
Urtica dioica subsp. gansuensis C.J.Chen, from eastern Asia (China), has stinging hairs.
-
Urtica dioica var. glabrata (Clem.) Asch. & Graebn.
-
Urtica dioica var. hispida (Lam. ex DC.) Tausch ex Ott
-
Urtica dioica var. holosericea Fr.
-
Urtica dioica subsp. kurdistanica Chrtek
-
Urtica dioica subsp. pubescens(Ledeb.) Domin, in many sources as U. dioica subsp. galeopsifolia (fen nettle or stingless nettle), from Europe, does not have stinging hairs.
-
Urtica dioica var. sarmatica Zapał.
-
Urtica dioica subsp. sondenii(Simmons) Hyl.
-
Urtica dioica subsp. subinermis (R.Uechtr.) Weigend
Etymology
Urtica is derived from a
Latin word meaning 'sting'.
[Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 142, 395]
Dioica (δίοικος) is derived from Greek language, meaning 'of two houses' (having separate staminate and pistillate plants; dioecious).
Distribution and habitat
U. dioica is considered to be native to Europe, much of temperate
Asia and western
North Africa.
It is abundant in
northern Europe and much of Asia, usually found in the countryside. It is less widespread in southern Europe and north Africa, where it is restricted by its need for moist soil, but is still common. It has been introduced to many other parts of the world. In North America, it is widely distributed in
Canada and the United States, where it is found in every province and state except for
Hawaii, and also can be found in northernmost
Mexico. It grows in abundance in the Pacific Northwest, especially in places where annual rainfall is high. The European subspecies has been introduced into Australia, North America and
South America.
In Europe, nettles have a strong association with human habitation and buildings. The presence of nettles may indicate the site of a long-abandoned building, and can also indicate soil fertility.
Ecology
Nettles are the
food plant for several species of
butterfly, such as the
Aglais io,
[Heiko Bellmann: Der Neue Kosmos Schmetterlingsführer, Schmetterlinge, Raupen und Futterpflanzen, pg. 170, Frankh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co, Stuttgart 2003, .] comma (
Polygonia c-album), and the small tortoiseshell. It is also eaten by the larvae of some
including
angle shades,
buff ermine,
dot moth, the flame, the gothic,
grey chi,
grey pug, lesser broad-bordered yellow underwing,
mouse moth, setaceous Hebrew character, and small angle shades. The
are sometimes eaten by the larva of the
ghost moth (
Hepialus humuli).
It is a known host to the pathogenic fungus Phoma herbarum.[Helgi Hallgrímsson & Guðríður Gyða Eyjólfsdóttir (2004). Íslenskt sveppatal I - smásveppir [Checklist of Icelandic Fungi I - Microfungi. Fjölrit Náttúrufræðistofnunar. Náttúrufræðistofnun Íslands Icelandic. ISSN 1027-832X]
Stinging nettle is particularly found as an understory plant in wetter environments, but it is also found in meadows. Although nutritious, it is not widely eaten by either wildlife or livestock, presumably because of the sting. It spreads by abundant seeds and also by rhizomes, and is often able to survive and re-establish quickly after fire.
Cultivation
Field
Sowing and planting
Three cultivation techniques can be used for the stinging nettle: 1) direct sowing, 2) growing seedlings in nurseries with subsequent transplantation and 3) vegetative propagation via stolons or head cuttings.
-
Direct sowing: The seedbed should have a loose and fine structure, but should be reconsolidated using a packer roller imminently prior to sowing.
-
Growing seedlings: For this technique pre-germinated seeds are sown between mid-/end-February and beginning of April and grown in Plant nursery. Seedlings are grown in tuffs with 3–5 plants/tuff and a seed density of 1.2–1.6 kg/1000 tuffs. Faster germination is achieved by alternating high temperature during daytime (30 °C for 8 h) and lower temperature during nighttime (20 °C for 16 h).
-
Vegetative propagation: Stolons (with several buds) of 10 cm should be planted from mid-April in a depth of .
Greenhouse
The stinging nettle can also be grown in controlled-environment agriculture systems, such as soil-less medium cultivations or
aeroponics, which may achieve higher yields, standardize quality, and reduce harvesting costs and contamination.
Sting and treatment
Urtica dioica produces its
inflammation effect on skin (a stinging, burning sensation often called "contact urticaria") both by impaling the skin via
trichome – causing mechanical irritation – and by
biochemistry irritants, such as
histamine,
serotonin, and
acetylcholine, among other chemicals.
, usually in the form of creams containing
or
hydrocortisone, may provide relief from nettle
dermatitis.
The term
contact urticaria has a wider use in
dermatology, involving dermatitis caused by various skin irritants and
.
Rumex, especially Rumex obtusifolius (the broad-leaf dock) often grow in similar environments to stinging nettles and are regarded as a folk remedy to counteract the sting of a nettle,[ ] although there is no evidence of any chemical effect. It may be that the act of rubbing a dock leaf against a nettle sting acts as a distracting counterstimulation, or that belief in the dock's effect provides a placebo effect.
Uses
Culinary
U. dioica has a flavour similar to
spinach when cooked. Young plants are harvested by many Native American communities and are cooked and eaten in spring when other food plants are scarce.
[Gregory L. Tilford, Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West, ] Soaking stinging nettles in water or cooking removes the stinging chemicals from the plant, which allows them to be handled and eaten without injury.
After the stinging nettle enters its flowering and seed-setting stages, the leaves develop gritty particles called
. Many sources claim consumption of these can irritate the kidneys and urinary tract,
Nettles can be used in a variety of recipes, such as polenta, pesto, and purée.
Nettles are sometimes used in cheesemaking, such as for Cornish Yarg
Nettles are used in Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of the dough filling for the börek pastry. The top baby leaves are selected and simmered, and then mixed with other ingredients such as herbs and rice, before being used as a filling between dough layers.
Young nettles can also be used to make an alcoholic drink.
Competitive eating
In the United Kingdom, an annual World Nettle Eating Championship draws thousands of people to Dorset, where competitors attempt to eat as much of the raw plant as possible. Competitors are given stalks of the plant, from which they strip the leaves and eat them. Whoever strips and eats the most stinging nettle leaves in a fixed time is the winner. The competition dates back to 1986, when two neighbouring farmers attempted to settle a dispute about which had the worst infestation of nettles, and one of them said to the other, "I'll eat any nettle of yours that's longer than mine."
Traditional medicine
As Old English stiðe, nettle is one of the nine plants invoked in the pagan Anglo-Saxon Nine Herbs Charm, recorded in 10th-century traditional medicine. Nettle was believed to be a galactagogue – a substance that promotes lactation.
Chastisement
In indigenous justice systems in Ecuador, urtication was used as punishment for severe crimes in 2010. The sentenced perpetrator of a crime was flogged with stinging nettle, in public, naked, whilst being showered with freezing cold ice water.
Textiles and fibre
Nettle stems contain a bast fibre that has been traditionally used for the same purposes as linen and is produced by a similar retting process. Unlike cotton, nettles grow easily without pesticides. The fibres are coarser, however.
Historically, nettles have been used to make clothing for almost 3,000 years, as ancient nettle textiles from the Bronze Age have been found in Denmark.[Edom, G.(2019), From Sting to Spin: A History of Nettle Fibre, Urtica Books] More recently, companies in Austria, Germany, and Italy have started to produce commercial nettle textiles.[Neustatter, Angela (27 February 2008). "Rash thinking". The Guardian.][Flintoff, John-Paul (20 August 2009). "Second skin: why wearing nettles is the next big thing". The Ecologist.]
The fibre content in nettle shows a high variability and reaches from below 1% to 17%. Under middle-European conditions, stems yield typically between 45 and 55 dt / ha (decitons per hectare), which is comparable to flax stem yield. Due to the variable fibre content, the fibre yields vary between 0.2 and 7 dt / ha, but the yields are normally in the range between 2 and 4 dt / ha.
Nettles may be used as a dye, producing yellow from the roots, or yellowish green from the leaves.[Piers Warren, 101 uses for Stinging Nettles (2006), p. 65, .]
Feed
Nutrient contents
Fresh leaves contain approximately 82.4% water, 17.6% dry matter, 5.5% protein, 0.7 to 3.3% fat, and 7.1% carbohydrates.
+
Table 1: Fatty acid content of different plant organs of U. dioica.
Standard deviations are given in brackets.
|
| ! !! !! Mature leaves !! Young leaves !! Seeds !! Stems !! Roots |
| | 40.3 (±2.8) |
| | 0.1 (±0.0)
|
| Fatty acids (% of saponifiable oil) |
| | 24.0 (±0.8) |
| | 2.6 (±0.3) |
| | 1.6 (±0.1) |
| | 8.7 (±0.5) |
| | 34.3 (±2.7) |
| | 2.3 (±0.1) |
| | 1.2 (±0.0) |
| | 0.9 (±0.1) |
| | 0.07
|
Minerals (Ca, K, Mg, P, Si, S, Cl) and trace elements (Ti, 80 ppm,
can be found primarily in the leaves, where different forms of lutein, xanthophyll and carotene are present (Table 2). Some carotenes are precursors of vitamin A (retinol), their retinol equivalents RE or retinol activity equivalents per g dry weight are 1.33 for mature leaves and 0.9 for young leaves.
+ Table 2: Carotenoid concentration of leaves of U. dioica (μg/ g dry weight).
Standard deviations are given in brackets. |
|
| 51.4 |
| 2.6 (±0.2) 0
|
| | ||Violaxanthin||11.0 (±0.2)|7.2 (±0.6)
|
| | ||Zeaxanthin||traces|traces
|
| | || class="nowrap"| β-cryptoxanthin || traces | traces
|
| |||13- cis-lutein||0.4 (±0.0)|0.4 (±0.0)
|
| | ||13'- cis-lutein||8.4 (±0.4)|5.0 (±0.6)
|
| | ||All- trans-lutein||32.4 (±1.0)|23.6 (±0.8)
|
| | ||9- cis-lutein||1.2 (±0.2)|1.0 (±0.2)
|
| | ||9'- cis-lutein||4.4 (±0.4)|3.4 (±0.6)
|
|
| All- trans-β-carotene||5.6 (±0.7)|3.8 (±0.3)
|
| | || β-carotene- cis-isomers||4.8 (±0.2)|3.2 (±0.2)
|
| | ||Lycopene||1.6 (±0.1)|1.2 (±0.1)
|
| |Retinol equivalent||RE / g dry wt||1.33 (±0.3)|0.90 (±0.3)
|
Poultry: Egg yolk colouring in laying hens
In laying hens, nettle can be used as an egg yolk colourant instead of artificial pigments or other natural pigments (derived from Tagetes for yellow). Nettle has high carotenoid contents, especially lutein, and zeaxanthin, of which lutein and zeaxanthin act as yellow pigments.
Ruminants
Ruminants avoid fresh stinging nettles; however, if the nettles are wilted or dry, voluntary intake can be high.
+Table 3: Contents of ryegrass and nettle silage
(g / kg dry matter, if not stated otherwise) |
|
| 415 |
| 9.8 |
| 171 |
| 552 |
| 434 |
| - |
| 118 |
Use in agriculture / horticulture
In the European Union, nettle extract can be used as an insecticide, fungicide, and acaricide under Basic Substance regulations. As an insecticide, nettle extract can be used for the control of codling moth, diamondback moth, and . As a fungicide, it can be used for the control of Pythium root rot, powdery mildew, early blight, late blight, Septoria blight, Alternaria leaf spot, and Botrytis cinerea.
Gardening
Nettles have a number of uses in the vegetable garden, including the potential for encouraging beneficial insects. Since nettles prefer to grow in phosphorus-rich and nitrogen rich soils that have recently been disturbed (and thus aerated), the growth of nettles is an indicator that an area has high fertility (especially phosphate and nitrate),
Nettles contain compounds, so are used as a compost activator[Pears, Pauline, et al. HDRA Encyclopedia Of Organic Gardening, p. 207, Dorling Kindersley Ltd, London, 2005.]
The stinging nettle is the Vanessa atalanta caterpillar's primary host plant and can attract migrating red admiral butterflies to a garden.
In culture
In Great Britain and Ireland, U. dioica and the annual nettle Urtica urens are the only common stinging plants and have found a place in several figures of speech in the English language. Shakespeare's Hotspur urges that "out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety" ( Henry IV, Part 1, Act II Scene 3). The figure of speech "to grasp the nettle" probably originated from Aesop's fable "The Boy and the Nettle".
In the German language, the idiom sich in die Nesseln setzen, or to sit in nettles, means to get into trouble. In Germanic mythology, the God of thunder, Thor, was associated with nettles, and that's where the saying "lightning won't strike into nettles" comes from.
The English word 'nettled', meaning irritated or angry, is derived from 'nettle'.
There is a common idea in Great Britain that the nettle was introduced by the Roman people,
See also
Further reading
-
Schofield, Janice J. (1998). Nettles
-
Thiselton-Dyer, T. F., (1889). The Folk-Lore of Plants.
-
Glawe, G. A. (2006). Sex ratio variation and sex determination in Urtica diocia.
External links
