Some similarities to : Small Nettle but Small Nettle is smaller, has much shorter catkins, and the leaves are more rounded. Small Nettle does not sting as strongly as does Stinging Nettle.

Slight resemblance to : Fen Nettle, but Fen Nettle grows on the Fens and has narrower leaves. Fen Nettle also does not sting as much as does Stinging Nettle.

Distinguishing Feature : the pendulous catkins, the hairs and the stinging rash that results from brushing against the leaves or stems.

Not to be confused with : Mint / Dead-Nettle Family [Labiatea / Lamiaceae]

The trichomes of Stinging Nettles are made of fine hollow needles of silica, being the hairs that do the stinging. The trichomes are so sharp that just a gentle brush of the back of the hand is sufficient for the trichomes to penetrate skin and inject a cocktail of substances. It is commonly thought that the compound which caused the pain was formic acid, but that is now known to be untrue. A concoction of six other substances which irritate the skin and cause inflammation, the effects of which can last a considerable time, is now thought to be involved.

Amongst this concoction are three mammalian neuro-transmitters, serotonin, histamine and acetylcholine, but although all three are super-irritants, experimental injection under the skin does still not unleash the full sting effect of nettles.

MOROIDIN The bicyclic octapeptide moroidin is also found in nettle stings, and it is this compound that is responsible for most of the pain and redness of nettle rash. It was first discovered in the trichomes of laportea moroides (hence the name), otherwise known as the Gympie Bush, with which contact is a far more terrifying ordeal than is Stinging Nettle, for the painful rash can last for months, or even forever, and there is no cure. Moroidin has anti-mitotic activity because it strongly inhibits the polymerization of tubulin, meaning it interferes with cell division. Moroidin is structurally related to a whole family of Celogentins, obtained from the seeds of celosia argentia (Amaranthaceae). The three highly unusual bonds in Moroidin are shown in red.

LEUKOTRIENES Both Leukotriene C4 and Leukotriene B4 are also found in nettle stings; these are also are constituents of snake venoms. Both Histamine and the Leukotrienes are naturally produced by the human body as part of the inflammatory response. The cysteinyl Leukotrienes (such as LTC4, but not LTB4) are responsible both for the symptoms of asthma (especially the bronchial constriction) and for anaphylactic shock, both life-threatening conditions. It is strange that the body could over-react to foreign substances producing chemicals (histamine and leukotrienes) itself so much as to kill them when that foreign substance was relatively benign. So much stranger then that stinging nettle produces histamines and leukotrienes as that foreign substance.

Dock leaves do not alleviate the symptoms of nettle rash for long, they merely temporarily cool the skin. The poisons injected by the trichomes are beneath the skin, untouched by the dock leaves. Why dock leaves then? Could it be that they are simply large, common and grow near Stinging Nettles?

The leaves and shoots are edible, although not with the stings still intact! The stings are rendered impotent after heating or drying. The leaves can be used in soups. A Nettle Beer can be brewed from the plant. Stinging Nettle is rich in iron and minerals. The pendulant flowers are borne on separate sex plants. The stems are square.

Nettles like to grow in nitrogen-rich fertile pasture land where they can utilise the minerals. They are thus good for using as a compost, for having absorbed the minerals, they will release them upon decay. In gardens nettles can be a rather persistent weed, returning season after season.

SILICON IN PLANTS It turns out that silicon seems to be an essential mineral for healthy growth of most plants, and yet the mineral silicon is, paradoxically, not included in commonly used fertilizer or nutrient solutions. Silicon seems to decrease the susceptibility of plants to fungal diseases. Usually present at about 1%, some plants contain as much as 10% (dried weight) of silicon. As a general rule of thumb, the monocotyledons like grasses and cereals are silicon accumulators, whereas most dicotyledons are non-accumulators. Silicon is abundant in soil as silicon dioxide, sand, but that is inert and insoluble and not available for direct uptake by the plant. And yet the plants are obtaining soluble silicon, usually as orthosilicate, somehow. Some silicon may be released into the soil as silicic acid and orthosilicates by chemical weathering of silicon-containing rocks (sandstone, granite, and quartz veins in limestone) and sandy soils (and not by wind or rain weathering which mostly produces smaller particles of sand). The author believes it is micro-organisms within the soil that is responsible for most of this chemical weathering of sand. There are millions of unknown microbes within soil which cannot be grown in culture; they have not been studied for this very reason. It only needs one of these microbes to chemically digest silicon dioxide to release it in soluble form. It is some of these organisms which must be responsible for most of the chemical weathering of grains of sand. If the reader doubts this, then ask yourself why lichen seems to only grow on rocks. Are lichens dissolving some nutrients held firmly in insoluble form within the rocks for use by themselves? As well as comprising the hollow needles of the stinging hairs in Stinging Nettles, silicon dioxide is also responsible for the sharp edges of some blades of grass: on those grasses that can cut like knives. Silicon dioxide is also used structurally within some plants, to help retain form.

Some similarities to : Small Nettle, but that is about half as tall and has a much less hairier appearance. Also its' flower catkins are much shorter, but the most important difference is that the male and female flowers on Stinging Nettles are on separate plants, whereas on Small Nettle they are on the same plant. The stems are square on both Nettles.

Stinging Nettle also produces the sterol Sitosterol (Beta)).

Stinging Nettle plays host to the eggs of the Red Admiral Butterfly.

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