With little defensive hairs ready to sting, this nutritious green plant protects itself from hungry foragers. Also known as burn nettle or common nettle, the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) can be gathered and cooked to soften the hairs and abolish the sting.
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Nettle can be used in herbal and natural medicine, fabric and textiles, food and cuisine, magic and spirituality. This feisty plant finds its way into the folklore of many cultures in Europe and elsewhere.
The Stinging Nettle
The nettle has a long history of use as a source for traditional medicine, food, tea, and textile raw material in ancient and modern societies. Urtica comes from the Latin, "to sting". Credit for first naming the plant goes to Carl Linnaeus, known as the father of taxonomy, who published it in Species Plantarum in 1753.
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In five of its six species the plant has countless hollow hairs. Not all sting but many act as little syringes. The tip imbeds into the skin and injects chemicals such as histamines. The afflicted person could have mild burning sensation to hives, red rash and other allergy symptoms.
Native to Europe and Asia, nettles are commonplace throughout the world. They're often found close to homes and farmsteads as they enjoy nitrogen and phosphorus-rich soil. Presence of nettles is sometimes used to judge soil quality.
In summer, nettles grow about 3 to 7 ft (0.9 - 2 m), and die back for winter. They spread through both seeds and rhizomes, which gives them survivor skills to grow back quickly after forest fires.
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Magic and Folklore of Nettles
In folklore of Frau Holle, an ancient German goddess, nettles become an instrument of punishment. Frau Holle is the patron of spinning and weaving. She comes around to check on households during her feast time in winter.
She has strict rules against spinning or weaving on her feast days; however, the allotted work for the year must be done. Should the girl or servant slack, Frau Holle beats her with a bunch of stinging nettles.
This theme also appears in the tradition of St Nicolas and a previously pagan helper going door to door Dec 5 - 6. They bring candy and fruit for the good, while the naughty get a birch switch with which to be beaten.
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While painful, a beating with nettles is preferable to punishment doled out by Frau Holle's close relative, Perchta, to the south. Perchta disembowels offenders and stuffs the body with straw.
Both goddesses leave gifts or coins for the hard workers. The fairy tale of Frau Holle illustrates the importance of work and rewards to come.
According to superstition, fever could be cured by pulling up a nettle plant with the roots, and saying the names of the afflicted person and family. Nettles are also symbolic of the Norse thunder god Thor. People put nettles on their roofs during storms to protect the home from lightning. Trickster Loki's fishing net is made from nettle.
In traditional Chinese medicine nettle is considered a Yin plant. It strengthens the Yin aspects of the Self. Yin relates to earth, female, darkness, night, moon, passivity, self-awareness, intuition and absorption. Nettle makes a nourishing tonic for the nervous system. Yin tonics help regulate the body fluids and provide moisture in dry conditions.
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Nettles in the Garden
Nettles have a few gardening benefits. They're rich in nitrogenous compounds and can be used as a compost activator or to make liquid fertilizer. Nettle also repel insect pests, except those who feed on nettles, such as the larvae of the peacock butterfly in Europe and Asia.
It's also the host plant of the red admiral, whose range extends from New Zealand to North America. The reward for allowing caterpillars to chew the nettles is a bevy of beautiful butterflies. Nettles are among the few plants who can live happily in soil containing poultry droppings.
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As a weed, the nettle plant is hard to abolish from the premises. Mowing it causes thicker growth. A tough plant, if cut or superficially pulled out it can revitalize even in poor soil conditions.
Nettle Health Benefits
Nutritionally, nettle is a healthy leafy green. Leaves are an excellent source of calcium and dietary fiber. It's also a good source of iron, magnesium and vitamin B6. Cooking negates the stings, making nettle a tasty and nutritious side dish or flavorful addition to soups & stews.
For centuries, stinging nettle has been used in natural medicine. Teas, oils and extracts can treat:
painful muscles
arthritis & joint pain
eczema
acne
gout
anemia
urinary tract infections & urinary ailments
inflammation
hay fever symptoms
blood pressure
blood sugar levels
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Nettle tea revitalizes and boosts energy without caffeine. Despite its sting, or perhaps because of it, nettle has anti-allergic properties. Mildly diuretic, nettle also has blood purifying elements and is used to cleanse and detoxify the body.
Used in soap, nettle is a natural astringent. Research shows that flavanols such as quercetin and other elements of nettle may protect brain cells, reverse damage and improve mental function and memory.
Nettle Yarn & Fabric
Fabric of nettle fibers has been found in Bronze Age ( bet 1730 - 1600 BCE) burial sites in England. Like hemp and flax, nettle makes durable textiles.
Ramie is the generic name for a bast fiber fabric made from the stems of nettle plants. It's also called nettle cloth, grass linen, china grass cloth and rhea, depending on the plant source.
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Bast is the substance surrounding the stem of certain plants. Other bast fibers include flax, hemp, linden and mulberry. In the old mythology, the goddess Perchta taught mortals to spin linen from flax.
Fabric created from the yarn is durable and resilient, similar to linen but stronger. When soaked its strength increases.
Nettle Sayings & Idioms
In German, "sich in die Nesseln setzen", means to sit in nettles or get in trouble. The nettle also features in the German fairy tale Maid Maleen, collected by the Grimms.
In English, to "grasp the nettle" means to seize the day, put one's effort into it, get it done. Grasped firmly the nettle doesn't sting as much because the grip flattens noxious hairs.
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It's echoed in a 1924 book by Seán O'Casey: "Gently touch a nettle and it'll sting you for your pains/Grasp it as a lad of mettle and soft as silk remains". The English "nettled", meaning to be angry or upset, comes from the plant.
In French, idiom faut pas pousser mémé dans les orties (don't push granny into the nettles) means, be careful not to abuse a situation.
Historical Reference - Victor Hugo
An enthusiastic review of the nettle and its properties comes from French writer Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885). He's best known as author of the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Misérables.
“When the nettle is young, the leaves make excellent greens; when it grows old it has filaments and fibers like hemp and flax. Cloth made from the nettle is as good as that made from hemp.
"Chopped up, the nettle is good for poultry; pounded, it is good for horned cattle. The seed of the nettle mixed with the fodder of animals gives a luster to their skin; the root, mixed with salt, produces a beautiful yellow dye. It makes, however, excellent hay, as it can be cut twice in a season.
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"And what does the nettle need? very little soil, no care, no culture; except that the seeds fall as fast as they ripen, and it is difficult to gather them; that is all. If we would take a little pains, the nettle would be useful; we neglect it, and it becomes harmful. Then we kill it.
"How much men are like the nettle! My friends, remember this, that there are no weeds, and no worthless men, there are only bad farmers.”