Common nettle – Urtica urens

Description of tiny nettle:

Urtica urens L. Urticaceae – Urticaceae Urticum urticum (Urticaria urens) L. Each leaf axil has two panicles with a mixture of stamens and bracts.The panicles are shorter than the leaf stalk.

Occurrence:

As a weed along roadsides, and in gravel and sandy places almost all over the globe. In our country it grows in fallows, roadsides, clearings, woods, – it prefers acacia woods, where it forms large patches.

Part to be collected:

Leaves, which folia Urticae which is traded as.

Active ingredient:

Chlorophyll, in addition to a green dye, an alkaloid and a glycoside compound.

Collection and drying:

The leaf may be collected by cutting off the above-ground part of the plant with a sickle or scythe and stripping the leaves from it with the hand wrapped in a cloth; it may also be collected by stripping the leaves from the upright stem with the hand wrapped in a cloth. The collected leaves are dried in a ventilated attic, or in the sun, but then they will be much lighter in colour. In spring, the young green shoots are picked and, after drying, are made into tea.

Cultivation:

Totally unnecessary, as the wild supply is always sufficient.

Processing and marketing:

It has been used in folk medicine for a long time against gout, and its medicinal use is becoming more and more common. In the dye industry chlorophyll it is used in the pharmaceutical industry and as a harmless green dye. Its stems and fibres are used to make fabric. Occurrence Active substance Collection Cultivation Source: Dr. Ferenc Darvas and Dr Gyula Magyary-Kossa,Domestic herbs, their production, marketing, effects and medicinal uses