Official name: Urtica dioica

Common name: Nettle, common nettle, stinging nettle
TCM name: Hsieh-tzu-ts’ao
Ayurvedic name: Vrishchikali

Family: Urticaceae
Parts used: Stalks and leaves, rhizomes, seeds

Constituents: Tanins, iron, histamine, gluconins, Vit A B C and K.

Properties Astringent Alterative Anti- inflammatory Galactogogue Hemostatic Anti-asthmatic Rubefacient Diuretic Nutritive

Energetics: Ruling planet: Mars. Hot and dry

Taste/smell: Astringent, salty

Native to: Europe, Asia

Geographic Distribution: Temperate regions throughout world

Botanical Description: Grows from 2-6 ft tall on a square, fibrous stem with deep grooves running along its length. The dark green leaves are ovate and sharply toothed with a heart-shaped base and a pointy tip. They are located in opposite pairs and become progressively smaller toward the top of the stem. The leaves and stems are covered with tiny, hollow hairs tipped with silica. Nettle spreads by rhizomes, so each plant can have multiple stem and thus nettle typically grows in dense colonies. The tiny, inconspicuous green flowers droop in bunches from the leaf axils.

Sustainability issues: None known.

Harvesting: May- September. Harvest top six inches of plants in spring and early summer before flowering. Harvest seeds in fall once the bundles of tiny flowers look fluffy and are drooping down toward the stem. Harvest rhizomes when ground is diggable in spring or after first frost in autumn.

Folklore: Nettle has long been recognized for its bounty of nutrition as well as its sting. Folk medicine and lore worldwide attribute the powers of protection and fertility to this incredible plant. Wisdom handed down from ancient times includes advice on using nettle to protect one’s self from lightning, to enhance fertility particularly in men, to reduce the swelling of arthritic joints, to heal the sick and bestow courage on those who carry it as well as how to avoid being stung by nettle. In Kawaiisu tribal practice as in Celtic lore, nettle serves as a threshold guardian. Nettle fibers have been found in burial cloths from the Bronze age, also closely linking this plant with the threshold between life and death and giving credence to the various folklore bits that describe Nettle as growing from or near the dead.

Nettle was the Anglo-Saxon sacred herb wergula, and in medieval times nettle beer

was drunk for rheumatism. Nettle’s high vitamin C content made it a valuable spring tonic for our ancestors after a winter of living on grain and salted meat, with hardly any green vegetables. Nettle soup and porridge were popular spring tonic purifiers, but a pasta or pesto from the leaves is a worthyly nutritious modern alternative. Nettle soup is described by one modern writer as ‘Springtime herbalism at one of its finest moments.’ This soup is the Scottish kail. Tibetans believe that their sage and poet Milarepa (AD 1052-1135) lived solely on nettle soup for many years until he himself turned green.

Uses/Indications: For the blood and the skin

Physical Uses: Being hot and dry, it rids the body of phlegm and was traditionally taken as a spring tonic cleanser during the winter rains. So it should be used for asthma, wheezing, productive bronchitis and catarrh. Drunk as a tea or gargles with, nettle helps to relieve inflammation of the throat, such as tonsillitis and laryngitis. The fresh juice, taken stops bleeding gums. Being hot and dry, nettle is used to treat skin irritations and may be used in eczema, urticaria, heat rash, boils, acne and any hot, dry itchy skin diseases.

The tannins contained in the herb make it a strong astringent and therefore excellent for hemorrhages anywhere in the body. It is used for heavy periods, bleeding after childbirth, nose bleeds and as a poultice for wounds.

It is an excellent herb to take in late pregnancy; hits high iron content will regulate hemoglobin levels and prevent anemia and it also stimulates the

production of breast milk. Use at any time when there has been a loss of blood and the person is anemic. Its Martian aspects increases the iron content in the blood.

Nettle is a powerful diuretic and is used to clear the body of uric acid which is found in high quantities in the bloodstream with arthritis, gout and rheumatism.

The powdered seeds have been used with some success in goiter and weight (obesity) problems.

Emotional Uses: Nettle builds and empowers the fire element in a person and helps to break up excessive waterlogged emotions to allow the person to contact rage and anger and cut through self-pity and victimhood. Nettle will warm a frozen heart and allows for passion and intensity to blaze forth. It is for evoking the warrior within, in order to feel our internal power and resilience.

Drink a cup of nettle tea every morning. Continue for as long as the need is felt.

Preparation & Dosage

• –  Tincture: 2-5 ml (1:5 in 40%), 3 times per day
• –  Tea: Infusion of 1-3 tsp dried nettle in 1 cup boiling water, infused 10-15 minutes, 3 times per day
• –  Juice: 5 to 10 ml of fresh juice 3x per day
• –  Seeds: 1 tsp – 1 tbsp nettle seeds per day
• –  External: with fresh plant as needed
  Safety: Obviously you have to be very careful handling fresh Nettles but once dried or taken as a tincture they are

extremely safe to use, even in high or frequent doses. No adverse reactions are expected and Nettles may safely be used during pregnancy or breastfeeding (where they may be expected to encourage the production of healthy milk). Internal use may decrease the efficacy of anticoagulant drugs.

Recipes:

• Electuary of Nettle

Beat some dried nettle leaves into a find powder and pass through a hair sieve to remove any large particles. To 25g (1oz) of powder, add 75g (3oz) of clarified honey and mix well in the mortar. Store in an earthenware pot.

Dose: 1tsp to purge the body of phlegm when needed.

• Gypsy remedy for aching joints

Take a bunch of nettles and beat on the sore joints until great heat has been produced. Then apply cotton cloths previously soaked in vinegar. After several hours repeat.

Experiences: Nettle can be found anywhere so I have made teas and tinctures and poultices. I have a cup of nettle tea once in a while and I enjoy it very much.