I've been drinking on and off nettle tea (from leaves, I assume) because of its iron content and it seems like nettles (leaves, roots etc) might have some benefits. In this article there are links to many related studies, so I will just link to that.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6100552/
" Nettles contain a significant number of biologically-active compounds. For example, the leaves are rich sources of terpenoids, carotenoids and fatty acids, as well as of various essential amino acids, chlorophyll, vitamins, tannins, carbohydrates, sterols, polysaccharides, isolectins and minerals. Extracts from the aerial parts of nettles are rich sources of polyphenols, while the roots contain oleanol acid, sterols and steryl glycosides. "
I am curious, but don’t want to try it if it’s a bad idea.
In one of my recent dreams, i was in a department store and saw my aunt,who is a close confidant and friend, with a swollen face and stippled red skin. She mouthed words and i could tell she needed help. I motioned for one of the employees to get a first aid kit as i helped her sit down and try to find out what was afflicting her. As i do so she recognizes me and we chat, or try to. I ask her why her face looks so puffy and swollen, and she says one word over and over; urtica, urtica.
I wake up and immediately start researching the word with as many spellings i could come up with. Urtica dioica. The stinging nettle with the scientific name urtica dioica pops up as the closest thing. Its' effects are various, but most notably itching swelling, rashes and fluid retention. I do not recall ever learning of this word although I must have at some point, I am incredibly confused about how my brain showed me this. Just thought i would share with my fellow dreamers.
##Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica)
Click to see an image of Stinging nettle
Notable Subspecies
- U. dioica subsp. dioica (European stinging nettle). Europe, Asia, northern Africa.
- U. dioica subsp. galeopsifolia (fen nettle or stingless nettle). Europe. Does not have stinging hairs.
- U. dioica subsp. afghanica. Southwestern and central Asia.
- U. dioica subsp. gansuensis. Eastern Asia (China).
- U. dioica subsp. gracilis (Ait.) Selander (American stinging nettle). North America.
- U. dioica subsp. holosericea (Nutt.) Thorne (hoary stinging nettle). North America.
Description
Nettle is a herbaceous, flowering perennial plant, between half a metre and 2 metres tall, and found throughout much of temperate Europe and North America. It is dioecious - that is to say, it possesses two distinct sexes - and has soft, broad, deep green leaves with many deeply serrated edges. Its leaves are alternate in positioning, growing from alternating sides of the plant at every level of the stem, and is unlike many other herbaceous perennials in that it is not pinnate. With the exception of U. d. galeopsifolia, stinging hairs are present on almost all members of U. dioica, and this has given rise to the typical common name of "stinging nettle" (the exceptional subspecies is more commonly known as the stingless nettle). Nettle leaves are generally covered with a great many fine, stingless hairs, and a smaller number of larger stinging hairs that detach easily when touched, injecting a complex and toxic chemical mix of histamine, acetylcholine and other hormones, and some mildly acidic compounds. These hairs and the chemicals contained within are broken down easily by boiling, or vigorous washing with very hot water, allowing the nettle to be handled and consumed easily after heat treatment.
Nettles commonly bear small, unremarkable flowers that vary in colouration from what can only be called vaguely greenish to kind of brownish. They grow most prolifically on sites of high-phosphorous soil, and for this reason they often grow over the sites of improperly buried corpses in graveyards and cemetaries.
Uses
Without a shadow of a doubt, nettles are my absolute favourite of any plant. This is because, notwithstanding its painful nature (which, as noted above, is easily dealt with), it's easily one of the most useful plants you will ever have the pleas
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