Nettle

General characteristics

In fact herbaceous plants, with Feuille S opposed, of elliptic form, toothed push on the rich grounds. All the plant is covered with irritant hairs. The male and female flowers are separate, either on same the foot (plants Monoïque S) or on different feet (plants Dioïque S). They are greenish flowers, joined together in Inflorescence S more or less tight according to the species: Panicle S, ears, Cluster S…

Moreover the nettle is a genuine hearth for “useful fauna”, in particular of many species of butterfly S and the Punaise S.

Principal species of the kind Urtica

Urtica angustifolia

Urtica ardens

Urtica atrovirens Req. ex Loisel. - Ortie of Dodart (Corsica, Sardinia, Italy and on the Balearic Islands)

Urtica will baccifera (Central America)

Urtica cannabina L. - Ortie with sheet of hemp (Occidental Asia of the Iran to the Siberia)

Urtica chamaedryoides Pursh

Urtica dioica L. - great nettle or dioïque Ortie

Urtica ferox G.Forst. - Ongaonga, Nettle Tree (New Zealand)

Urtica fissa

Urtica hyperborea Jacq. ex Wedd., 1856 (in the the Himalayas, of the Pakistan to the Bhutan, Mongolia and Tibet, into high altitudes).

Urtica incised Poir. (Australia)

Urtica mairei

Urtica membranacea Poir. - Ortie with membranes (Mediterranean coastline)

Urtica will parviflora

Urtica will pilulifera L. - Ortie with pills, Roman Ortie.

Urtica platyphylla Wedd. (North and center of the Japan)

Urtica sicula

Urtica simensis Hochst. ex A. Rich.

Urtica thunbergiana

Urtica urens L. - Small nettle, Stinging nettle.

Components

the sheets are very rich in proteins (40% of the dry weight)
sheets and stems contain rock salt (Calcium, Potassium), Silice and vitamins has and C
It is the presence of histamine and acéthylcholine which gives to the nettle its irritant capacity.
In the roots which are not used there are Phytostérol S and Coumarine.

Uses

Food

The nettle is also cultivated at food ends.

The sheets are edible, young they can be eaten raw chopped out of salad but they are especially consumed cooked in Soupe, more rarely in Légume, in gratins, the quiches or in the Potée with the Nettles.

The sheets of nettles contain Protéine S foliar in good quantity (9g for 100g of sheets), as well as minerals like the Fer and the Zinc. The nettles contain seven times more Vitamine C that the orange S.

Medicinal properties

The nettle is diuretic, tonic and antianemic by its rock salt contribution. Apart from soups and Herb tea S, one makes scented drinks of them.

It is used for the treatment of the Scalp, the fatty hair and the pellicular .

In addition, the gardeners who want to stimulate to them Blood circulation on the level of the Jambe S can go to mow foot S naked the nettles. The punctures of nettles are traditionally regarded as being able to relieve the joint pains of rheumatisms and the pains sciatic nerves.

Textile

The fibers of nettle were used to manufacture cords and fabrics, especially in the north of Europe and are still used to manufacture the Papier on which are printed the banknotes (replacing those of the hemp).

Ötzi carried a knife whose sleeve was a weaving in nettle, and remained intact after having spent 5300 years in the ices. The Ramie is close to the nettle besides.

Gardening: liquid manure of nettle

The market-gardening gardeners and wanting to respect the principles of the Organic farming prepare with the nettles, by Fermentation, of the liquid manure of nettle which with the property to push back the Insecte S, in particular the Puceron S; it can also constitute a Engrais.

Rich person out of nitrogen, iron, potash and trace elements, the liquid manure of nettle constitutes a good strengthening for the plants and stimulates the growth and natural resistance against the enemies and the diseases. It is used in biological gardening to reinforce the immunity of the plants and to avoid the treatments and the pesticides.

Impact on the biodiversity

The use of liquid manure of nettle, like the preventive mowing of many surfaces, like the sides, can cause the destruction of many species of insects like the Petite tortoise, the Paon of the day, the Vulcan, the Vanesse of the thistle, etc, whose larvae live in the sheets or even hang their chrysalis on the seedling.

Legislation

In France: A decree of July 1st, 2006, pursuant to the law of agricultural orientation of January 2006, prohibited marketing, the detention and the promotion of not approved plant health products. This decree whose application causes many questions does not call into question the clothes industry and the domestic use of the liquid manure of nettle.

On Sunday, March 25, 2007 with 12:25, the radio " Info" France; announces that “it - mythical liquid manure of nettle is again authorized”

Punctures of nettles

One can relieve the punctures of nettles by rubbing Plantain there: it is a plant with round sheets and veins pronounced, which generally pushes close to urticacées.

Other plants called nettle

Other species of plants also received the vernacular Nom of “nettle” because of their vague resemblance to the nettles. One thus knows white dead-nettles, yellow, reds which belong to the kind Lamium (Lamier) of the family of the Lamiacées. These plants are distinguished from the true nettles to their stem with square section and their coloured flowers zygomorphes.

white dead-nettle = white Tinsel maker ( Lamium album )
yellow nettle = yellow Tinsel maker ( Lamium galeobdolon )
red dead-nettle = Tinsel maker crimson ( Lamium purpureum )
dead nettle = white Tinsel maker ( Lamium album ) or Tinsel maker mottled ( Lamium maculatum )
mackled nettle = Tinsel maker mottled ( Lamium maculatum )
nettle bourbière = épiaire of the marshes ( Stachys palustris )
nettle puante = épiaire of wood ( Stachys sylvatica )
royal nettle = Galéopsis tétrahit ( Galeopsis tetrahit )

Nettles in the language

“to throw the froc with the nettles”: to give up the state monacal or ecclesiastic. In this expression, froc is to be taken with the old direction of the term which appears about 1160 to indicate the part of the dress of the monks which recovers the head, the shoulders and the chest. From the 17th century, the word is used to name as a whole the dress monacal, but it is only at the 20th century that the slang recovers this word to replace pants . This expression tends to fall in disuse, taking into account the rarefaction of the religious vocations.
“not to push grandmother in the nettles”: not to exaggerate.

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