Urtica dioica - Stinging Nettle - Plant

Description

• Urticaceae Rosales
• Temperate regions
• H 1.5m x L 1m
•  Z5 
• Perennial
• 1 plant bare root

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Details

Nettle is best known for the painful skin burns it causes due to formic acid contained within its stinging hairs

It is also reputed as a good fertilizer and source of compost teas

Nettle is also a source of textile fiber, paper, dye (green colour from the leaves, yellow colour from the roots), food coloring (E140), anti-dandruff treatment (leaves decoction), flies repellent (fresh leaves), and a rennet substitute (the plant is boiled in salted liquid and prepared as a decoction)

Urtica dioica is a delicious vegetable, rich in minerals and vitamins (leaves and young shoots are coocked in soups or as spinach)

Only the young leaves should be harvested and consumed: Mature leaves contain cystoliths, which have an irritant effect on various organs

Young shoots may also enter into the composition of aromatic beers

Finally, Urtica dioica is a medicinal plant with the following properties: Antiasthmatic, Anti-dandruff, Astringent, Diuretics, Haemostatic, Hypoglycaemic, and Tonic

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Cultivation

Nettle loves humid and rich soils, in which it can grow up to 2m high

Yet, Urtica dioica can widthstand suboptimal and adverse conditions, in which case it will grow smaller

If you want to grow Nettle as a vegetable, plant it in shady areas for greater tenderness

An easy plant indeed