Stinging Nettles

Kingdom: Plantae

Family: Urticaceae

Species: Urtica dioica

While I was walking around UEA’s lake earlier this week trying to get inspiration for my first blog post, I stung my arm on a stinging nettle – something I am sure has happened to pretty much everyone who has ever set foot in the countryside. While looking for a dock leaf to get rid of the stinging, I realised I didn’t actually know if dock leaves worked, and thought that actually investigating stinging nettles a little bit seemed to be a good start for my first post.

Stinging nettles (Urtica dioica L.) sting you with tiny hollow hairs (the silica tips break off when they come into contact with something) on their leaves. They pierce the skin and inject a venom mixture of histamine, acetylcholine and serotonin (even the ‘happy hormone’ can cause you pain – when injected by stinging nettles, it becomes an irritant) which cause pain and inflammation, while tartaric and oxalic acid can extend the pain. However, dock leaves actually have no impact and the reasoning for using them is often backed up by false science used to increase their validity. Some people suggest it is because their sap is alkaline so neutralises the acid, but it’s actually acidic so this is not true. Some also claim they contain a natural antihistamine, but this is also false. Using actual antihistamine cream is much more likely to help, as it can block the receptors that histamine normally binds to and prevent it causing pain.

So at this point in my research I was still annoyed about my sting but then began reading about why nettles are actually a benefit to UK wildlife. The stinging nettle supports over 40 species of insects, including small tortoiseshell and peacock butterflies, and the nettle leaves form a protective shield against grazing animals which are potential predators to these small insects. The aphids living on them are sometimes eaten by blue tits and other woodland birds that dart around the stems. Nettles are also a magnet for other insect-eaters like hedgehogs, shrews, frogs and toads, at all times of year, so can greatly benefit biodiversity of an area. Therefore, while nettles are weeds and not threatened, they are often encouraged to grow by nature conservationists. This has led to charities running campaigns to get people to dedicate a patch of their garden to be left untouched to grow as it would in the wild, so plants such as nettles can grow and lead to a higher level of biodiversity in the small part of the garden – something which could be important as the population continues to grow and urban settlements expand, as mowing the lawn on a regular basis makes it very hard for many species to be able to live there. 

Nettles can also be used for humans’ purposes – they can be eaten as a vegetable, as cooking destroys the stings, for recipes such as nettle soup. Nettles are actually a good source of calcium, magnesium and iron among other trace elements and vitamins. Mature leaves can actually be used in production of cheese, cosmetics and dyeing fabric! They can also be used to make a tonic which can be used as a remedy for rheumatism (a disease causing inflammation in muscles and joints) as the nettle stings actually have anti-inflammatory properties which inhibit the inflammatory response, despite causing one itself!

So despite it hurting a bit when it stings you, nettles are a big contributor to enhancing biodiversity in an area and can be used for loads of purposes for humans too.