Its sting is delivered by hollow silica-tipped hairs that snap off and inject histamine, acetylcholine and serotonin
Stinging nettle — the hairs are trichomes acting as miniature hypodermic needles.
Nature · Ferns, grasses & other plants
Stinging nettle
Perennial · to 1.5 m · flowers June–September
Urtica dioica — Urticaceae
The stinging nettle is the most useful weed in Britain. Its sting comes from hollow silica-tipped hairs that snap on contact and inject a cocktail including histamine, acetylcholine and serotonin. It is nitrogen-hungry, so a patch of it marks disturbed or enriched ground and often an old settlement or dung heap. And it feeds more insects than almost any other British plant: the caterpillars of the peacock, small tortoiseshell, red admiral and comma all depend on it.
How to spot them
- ▸Square stems and opposite pairs of coarsely toothed, heart-based pointed leaves, all bristling with hairs
- ▸Drooping green catkin-like flower tassels from the leaf axils, male and female on separate plants
- ▸Dense patches on rich, disturbed ground — field margins, farmyards, old walls, woodland clearings
- ▸Leaves slightly wrinkled and dull, not glossy; sting felt on the lightest touch
- ▸Often carrying a mass of black spiny caterpillars in a silk tent in early summer
How to know it
Its species epithet means 'of two houses', because male and female flowers grow on separate plants
Urtica dioica.
The caterpillars of the peacock, small tortoiseshell, red admiral and comma all feed on this one plant
Stinging nettle.
It is a nitrogen-lover, so a dense patch of it often marks an old dung heap, midden or settlement
Stinging nettle — archaeologists use it as a soil indicator.
Its stem fibres were spun and woven into cloth, and used for German army uniforms in the First World War
Stinging nettle — the fabric is nettle cloth or ramie's relative.
The traditional remedy of rubbing a dock leaf on the sting has no good evidence behind it
Stinging nettle.
Its genus name comes from the Latin verb meaning 'to burn', which also gives urticaria
Urtica dioica — urticaria is the medical word for hives.
Quick-fire facts
- •The sting comes from trichomes with brittle silica tips; the fluid contains histamine, acetylcholine, serotonin and formic acid
- •dioica means 'two houses' — the plant is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants
- •Larval foodplant of the peacock, small tortoiseshell, red admiral and comma butterflies, plus dozens of moths
- •Urtica is from Latin urere, to burn, which also gives urticaria, the medical term for hives
- •A nitrophile: dense stands indicate phosphate- and nitrogen-rich, disturbed ground, often marking former human occupation
- •Nettle fibre has been spun into cloth since the Bronze Age; Germany used nettle textile for uniforms when cotton was blockaded in the First World War
- •Cooking or drying destroys the sting, which is why nettle soup and nettle tea are safe
- •There is no good evidence that dock leaves relieve nettle stings
- •Fen nettle, Urtica dioica subsp. galeopsifolia, is a stingless or nearly stingless native subspecies
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Sources
- The Wildlife Trusts — Stinging nettle