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Stinging Nettle
Herbal Actions
Alterative, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, diuretic, tonic, styptic, vulnerary, trophorestorative, rubefacien
Botany
Nettle is a common perennial herb to 8 feet found on moist forest edges, meadows and disturbed sites with rich soil. Hollow hairs on the leaves and stems inject folic acid into the skin. Both male and female flowers appear on a single plant.
Parts Used
All aerial parts, seeds, root. Collect in early to late spring in areas with snow. Collect beginning in late Winter in temperate climates. Harvest with gloves or with your bare hand and a firm grip.
Constituents
Vitamin A, C, E, F, K, P. Zinc, formic acid, magnesium, carbonic acid, iron, copper, selenium, boron, bromine, chlorine, chlorophyll, potassium, phosphorus, sodium, silica, iodine, chromium, silicon, sulfur and quercetin. Calcium, 1 cup provides 32 to 42% of the amount you require daily. Vitamin B-complexes as well as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, B-6 all of which are found in high levels and act as antioxidants.
Ecological Interdependence:
Nettle supports over 40 species of insects, including butterflies. The presence of stinging fibers on the nettle stalk act as a defense against many grazing animals, creating an ideal habitat for our beneficial insect friends, some of whom are pollinators.
Preparation
Fresh leaf - 'Urtication,' or flogging with Nettles, is an old remedy for chronic rheumatism and loss of muscular power. Fresh root (use a 2-10 year old plant)
Dry Tea. Use dry plant matter within one year.
Fermentation
- Nettle Beer. Nettle beer made by cottagers was given to their elders as a remedy for gout related and rheumatic pains. It’s an Earthy tasting drink that preserves the spring, through the winter.
Culinary Use: Nettle Pesto, Pasta, Breads, Crackers, Soups
Medical Use
Tissue State: As a nutritive spring tonic, nettle provides heating and drying actions on the body. As we humans slowly emerge from our winter hibernation we wisely eat this spring green to clear the cold damp tissue and fluid built up over the winter months.
Blood building: Nettle is considered to be blood building. As an iron rich herb, supplementing iron contributes to creating the protein hemoglobin which is the protein molecule in red blood cells. Nettles have more iron than spinach, providing a vital plant base support for anemia.
Styptic: Traditionally midwives used nettle as an ally in staunching post-partum bleeding. Using strong infusions of wild harvested nettle leaves has proven to reduce anticipated blood loss by as much as 90%.
Diuretic: In edema, or as the old texts like to call ‘dropsy’, nettle reigns supreme as a diuretic, flushing excess water through the urinary tract. Nettle also acts as mild astringent in the urinary tract, which is strengthening to tissue.
Anti-inflammatory/histamine: Nettle works in two ways as anti-inflammatory. It provides an important and hard to find function of stabilizing mast cells which are the initial alarm bells for the body to mount an immune response. In addition, it works with the digestion of proteins. Quite often allergic reactions come from ingested proteins interacting with the immune system, historically making an allergic response difficult to predict. Matthew Wood points to nettle’s ability to support the liver in its function to digest blood proteins which makes it an indispensable tonic for protein based allergies.
Vulnerary: Young nettles are rich with free amino acids. A large proportion of our cells, muscles and tissue are made up of amino acids, they give cells their structure. As an essential building block for tissue repair in the muscles, bones, and skin, amino acids are pulled from the young nettle when eaten raw or lightly steamed. A deeply nutritive herb for internal wound healing, in recovery from surgery or other body trauma.
Trophorestorative: The seed of nettle is literally food for the kidneys! The kidney is a delicate organ comprised of millions of small filtering agents, who have a huge responsibility to cleanse the blood of toxins. David Winston site dozens of cases where nettle seed will return a person’s kidney from extreme serious atrophy, disease, and even those on the edge of dialysis.
Hormone support: Nettle Root works to keep testosterone and estrogen active in the body for longer length of time. It works through blocking the bodies glycoprotein sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG). SHBG binds to sex hormones making them inactive, and so when SHBG is blocked by nettle root, there is more free testosterone and free estrogen active. In menopause and andropause nettle root can be a great ally during this time of transition.
Nettle root also blocks the production of the sex hormone Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) which is responsible for hair loss in both men and women, called androgenic alopecia.
Historical Use
Nettle was once widely used for its stem fibers which were cut, dried, steeped, and spun. The long fibers from stinging nettle can be spun into thread or yarn and woven into fabric that is said to be as strong as hemp, varying from coarse to as soft as cotton. Coarse nettle fiber may be use for sailcloth. Many Native American tribes made cordage from the medicinal fiber. In Denmark, burial shrouds made of nettle cloth have been found dating back 5000 years or more.
An Irish folk remedy suggest eating nettle soup three times in the month of May, beginning May 1st, which we know as the pagan spring time celebration of Beltane. This will cure rheumatism all year long.
It’s physical stinger is a doctrine of signature to an definitive energetic stinger and boundary.
Contraindications
As a warming and drying agent, take care giving to people with hot and dry tissue state.
Nettle increases urine flow. If the kidneys are damaged gently diurese with nettle leaf.
Sources
https://www.herbrally.com/monographs/nettle by Kelsey Barrett