Urtica is a genus of flowering plants in the family Urticaceae. Many species have
stinging hairs and may be called nettles or stinging nettles, although the latter
name applies particularly to Urtica dioica.
Urtica species are food for the caterpillars of numerous Lepidoptera,
such as the tortrix moth Syricoris lacunana and several Nymphalidae, such
as Vanessa atalanta, one of the red admiral butterflies.
Description Urtica species grow as annuals or
perennial herbaceous plants, rarely shrubs. They can reach, depending on the
type, location and nutrient status, a height of 10–300 cm. The perennial
species have underground rhizomes. The green parts have stinging hairs. Their
often quadrangular stems are unbranched or branched, erect, ascending or
spreading. Most leaves and stalks are arranged
across opposite sides of the stem. The leaf blades are elliptic, lanceolate,
ovate or circular. The leaf blades usually have three to five, rarely up to
seven veins. The leaf margin is usually serrate to more or less coarsely
toothed. The often-lasting bracts are free or fused to each other. The
cystoliths are extended to more or less rounded.
Species A large number of species included
within the genus in the older literature are now recognized as synonyms of Urtica
dioica. Some of these taxa are still recognized as subspecies.
Species in the genus Urtica, and their primary natural ranges, include:
Urtica angustifolia Fisch. ex Hornem. China, Japan, Korea
Urtica ardens China Urtica aspera Petrie South Island, New
Zealand Urtica atrichocaulis Himalaya,
southwestern China Urtica atrovirens western Mediterranean
region Urtica australis Hook.f. South Island,
New Zealand and surrounding subantarctic islands
Urtica cannabina L., Western Asia from Siberia to Iran
Urtica chamaedryoides, southeastern North America
Urtica dioica L. 1753, Europe, Asia, North America
Urtica dioica subsp. galeopsifolia Wierzb. ex Opiz, Europe.
Urtica dubia, Canada Urtica ferox G.Forst., New Zealand
Urtica fissa China Urtica gracilenta, Arizona, New Mexico,
west Texas, northern Mexico Urtica hyperborea Himalaya from Pakistan
to Bhutan, Mongolia and Tibet, high altitudes
Urtica incisa Poir, Australia, New Zealand
Urtica kioviensis Rogow. eastern Europe Urtica laetivirens Maxim. Japan,
Northeast China Urtica linearifolia' Cockayne, New
Zealand Urtica mairei Himalaya, southwestern
China, northeastern India, Myanmar Urtica massaica Africa
Urtica membranacea Mediterranean region, Azores
Urtica morifolia Canary Islands Urtica parviflora Himalaya
Urtica peruviana D.Getltman Perú Urtica pseudomagellanica D.Geltman
Bolivia Urtica pilulifera, southern Europe
Urtica platyphylla Wedd. China, Japan Urtica procera Mühlenberg, North America
Urtica pubescens Ledeb. Southwestern Russia east to central Asia
Urtica rupestris Sicily Urtica sondenii Avrorin ex Geltman
northeastern Europe, northern Asia Urtica taiwaniana Taiwan
Urtica thunbergiana Japan, Taiwan Urtica triangularisa
Urtica urens L., Europe, North America Ecology
Thanks to the stinging hairs, Urtica species are rarely eaten by herbivores,
so they provide long-term shelter for insects, such as aphids, caterpillars,
and moths. The insects, in turn, provide food for small birds, such as tits.
Uses There is historical evidence of use of
Urtica species being used in medicine, folk remedies, cooking and fiber
production. Urtica dioica is the main species used for these purposes, but a
fair amount also refers to the use of Urtica urens, the small nettle.
Arthritic joints were traditionally treated by whipping the joint with a
branch of stinging nettles, a process called urtication. Nettles can also be
used to make a herbal tea known as nettle tea.
Fabric woven of nettle fiber has been found in burial sites dating back to the
Bronze Age. In folklore
Nettles have many folklore traditions associated with them. The folklore
mainly relates to the stinging nettle, but the similar non-stinging Lamium may
be involved in some traditions. = Myths about health and wealth =
Nettles in a pocket will keep a person safe from lightning and bestow courage.
Nettles kept in a room will protect anyone inside.
Nettles are reputed to enhance fertility in men, and fever could be dispelled by
plucking a nettle up by its roots while reciting the names of the sick man and
his family. = Literature =
Asian Milarepa, the great Tibetan ascetic and
saint, was reputed to have survived his decades of solitary meditation by
subsisting on nothing but nettles; his hair and skin turned green and he lived
to the age of 83. Caribbean
The Caribbean trickster figure Anansi appears in a story about nettles, in
which he has to chop down a huge nettle patch in order to win the hand of the
king's daughter. European
An old Scots rhyme about the nettle: "Gin ye be for lang kail coo the nettle,
stoo the nettle Gin ye be for lang kail coo the nettle
early Coo it laich, coo it sune, coo it in the
month o' June Stoo it ere it's in the bloom, coo the
nettle early Coo it by the auld wa's, coo it where
the sun ne'er fa's Stoo it when the day daws, coo the
nettle early." (Old Wives Lore for Gardeners, M & B
Boland) Coo, cow, and stoo are all Scottish for
cut back or crop, while "laich" means short or low to the ground. Given the
repetition of "early," presumably this is advice to harvest nettles first thing
in the morning and to cut them back hard [which seems to contradict the advice of
the Royal Horticultural Society]. A well-known English rhyme about the
stinging nettle is: Tender-handed, stroke a nettle,
And it stings you for your pains. Grasp it like a man of mettle,
And it soft as silk remains. In Hans Christian Andersen's fairy-tale
"The Wild Swans," the princess had to weave coats of nettles to break the
spell on her brothers. References