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Urtica dioica
Urticaceae FAMILY

Urtica dioica

Urtica dioica

Edibility
4/5
Medicinal
4/5

Safety & Hazards

The leaves of the plants have stinging hairs, causing irritation to the skin[1, 2]. This action is neutralized by heat or by thorough drying, so the cooked leaves are perfectly safe and nutritious[2]. However, only young leaves should be used because older leaves develop gritty particles called cystoliths which act as an irritant to the kidneys[3].

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
GrowthFast

Nettles are native to the temperate zone but have travelled around the world with humans and become naturalized in many areas, including higher elevations in the Tropics. The plant grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 12 - 22°c, but can tolerate 8 - 28°c[4]. When dormant, the plant can survive temperatures down to about -25°c[4]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 600 - 2,000mm, but tolerates 450 - 2,400mm[4]. Grows best in full sun, but can tolerate fairly high levels of shade[PFAF]. Prefers a soil rich in phosphates and nitrogen. Plants must be grown in a deep rich soil if good quality fibre is required[5, 6]. Prefers a pH in the range 7 - 8.5, tolerating 6.5 - 9[4]. These figures for pH do not seem correct - we have grown very healthy nettles on soils with a pH lower than 6[PFAF]. A dioecious plant, both male and female forms must be grown if seed is required.

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a cold frame, only just covering the seed. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle, and plant them out in the summer. Division succeeds at almost any time in the growing season. Very easy, plant them straight out into their permanent positions. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Urtica+dioica>

Pollinators

Wind

References

  1. [1]The Herb Book. — Lust. J. · Bantam books · 1983 · ISBN 0-553-23827-2 ↩︎Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.
  2. [2]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  3. [3]Discovering Wild Plants - Alaska, W. Canada and the Northwest. — Schofield. J. J. · Alaska Northwest Books; Alaska · 2003 · ISBN 0882403699 ↩︎A nice guide to some useful plants in that area.
  4. [4]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  5. [5]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  6. [6]The Useful Plants of Great Britain. — Johnson. C. P. ↩︎Written about a hundred years ago, but still a very good guide to the useful plants of Britain.
  7. [7]The National Non-Food Crops Centre Crop Database — http://www.nnfcc.co.uk/crops/pd.cfm ↩︎An excellent on-line information source, with information on over 100 species (as of 2006) of plants being investigated as bio-crops.
  8. [8]Edible and Medicinal Plants. — Launert. E. · Hamlyn · 1981 · ISBN 0-600-37216-2 ↩︎Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.
  9. [9]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  10. [10]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  11. [11]Britain's Wild Larder. — Loewenfeld. C. and Back. P. · David & Charles; Newton Abbot. · ISBN 0-7153-7971-2 ↩︎A handy pocket guide.
  12. [12]Hamlyn Encyclopaedia of Plants. — Triska. Dr. · Hamlyn · 1975 · ISBN 0-600-33545-3 ↩︎Very interesting reading, giving some details of plant uses and quite a lot of folk-lore.
  13. [13]Herbal Review. Vol.11. 3. — The Herb Society · The Herb Society · 1986 · ISBN 0264-9853 ↩︎A very interesting article on the stinging nettle, Urtica dioica, giving a lot of information on its uses. Also details on Tanacetum parthenifolium and Melaleuca alternifolium.
  14. [14]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  15. [15]Herbs — Phillips. R. & Foy. N. · Pan Books Ltd. London. · 1990 · ISBN 0-330-30725-8 ↩︎Deals with all types of herbs including medicinal, culinary, scented and dye plants. Excellent photographs with quite good information on each plant.
  16. [16]A - Z of Companion Planting. — Allardice.P. · Cassell Publishers Ltd. · 1993 · ISBN 0-304-34324-2 ↩︎A well produced and very readable book.
  17. [17]Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. — Bown. D. · Dorling Kindersley, London. · 1995 · ISBN 0-7513-020-31 ↩︎A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.
  18. [18]Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains. — Harrington. H. D. · University of New Mexico Press · 1967 · ISBN 0-8623-0343-9 ↩︎A superb book. Very readable, it gives the results of the authors experiments with native edible plants.
  19. [19]Food for Free. — Mabey. R. · Collins · 1974 · ISBN 0-00-219060-5 ↩︎Edible wild plants found in Britain. Fairly comprehensive, very few pictures and rather optimistic on the desirability of some of the plants.
  20. [20]The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants — Chevallier. A. · Dorling Kindersley. London · 1996 · ISBN 9-780751-303148 ↩︎An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.
  21. [21]The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism. — Mills. S. Y. ↩︎An excellent small herbal.
  22. [22]Native American Ethnobotany — Moerman. D. · Timber Press. Oregon. · 1998 · ISBN 0-88192-453-9 ↩︎Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.
  23. [23]A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants. Eastern and Central N. America. — Foster. S. & Duke. J. A. · Houghton Mifflin Co. · 1990 · ISBN 0395467225 ↩︎A concise book dealing with almost 500 species. A line drawing of each plant is included plus colour photographs of about 100 species. Very good as a field guide, it only gives brief details about the plants medicinal properties.
  24. [24]Plants with a Purpose. — Mabey. R. · Fontana · 1979 · ISBN 0-00-635555-2 ↩︎Details on some of the useful wild plants of Britain. Poor on pictures but otherwise very good.
  25. [25]Plants in British Columbian Indian Technology. — Turner. N. J. · British Columbia Provincial Museum · 1979 · ISBN 0-7718-8117-7 ↩︎Excellent and readable guide.
  26. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎