Stinging Nettle
From NarratingLandscapes
| Stinging Nettle | |
| [[Image:|150px| ]] Image caption. | |
| Botanical Name: | Urtica dioica |
|---|---|
| Family: | Nettle Family |
The Stinging Nettle is a herbaceous Perennial plant that can grow over 3 1/2 feet tall. It's leaves appear in opposite pairs along its straight stem. Stalks, leaves and stems are covered with tiny hairs. The fluid from these hairs act as an irritant to human skin, giving a stinging tingling feeling that may last for hours. The flowers are small and greenish. They hang underneath the leaves. It thrives in moist, nutrient rich soils, often shady and disturbed.
Stinging Nettle was used to make fibres by most coastal peoples. It was also used as a dye. The Alaskan Tlingit made red dye by boiling it with urine. A green dye can also be make from its young leaves. It can also be boiled as a spinach substitute or used as tea.
It can be found throughout the Lower mainland, with large patches at Caulfeild Cove and the forest edges of Pacific Spirit Park.
References:
Cannon, John and Margaret 2003. Dye Plants and Dyeing. Portland: Timber Press.
Turner, Nancy J. 2006. Plant Technology of First Peoples in British Columbia. Vancouver: UBC Press", pp 203-204.
Varner, Collin 2002. Plants of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. Vancouver: Raincoast Books, p 93.
Supported by the Arts IT Fund at UBC