Flowers Growing at Our Home

Stinging Nettle

Urtica dioica For all but the wild plant gourmet, stinging nettle has to be one of the most disliked of all plants vying with poison oak for that honor. Nettles spread rapidly from shallow rhizomes, and may dominate large areas, especially in moist, open forests. The rather succulent, strongly angular stems may grow to be more than six feet tall. The stem, leaf stalks, and larger veins on the under surface of the leaves have multicellular stinging hairs, which function like hypodermic needles. The toxic material, a combination of acid and antigenic protein, is under pressure; when the "needle" penetrates the skin, the tip breaks and the juice is injected. The result is recorded in the generic name which means to burn. We had a section of them in our Northwest woodlot. We eradicated most of the but a few live in the wild area saved for our forest friends.