Stinging Nettle

Talk about a tough neighborhood, right next to the Poison Hemlock I talked about yesterday there was also Stinging Nettle.

It would seem that at the species level Stinging Nettle is both native and invasive. This is because there are 6 subspecies, 4 from Europe and 2 from North America. One of the invasive ones doesn't actually sting, and one other sometimes stings and sometimes doesn't; both of the North American ones are stingers.

This plant doesn't want to be touched. The leaves and stems are a mix of both non-stinging hairs and tiny needles able to pierce skin and inject biochemical irritants. They haven't stopped us humans from eating them though; we discovered that cooking and/or soaking in water removes the plant's ability to sting us.

They're also a host plant for some insects. Red Admiral, Question Mark, and Eastern Comma butterflies are known to eat nettles as caterpillars, and probably consider Stinging Nettle to be a reasonable nettle to eat.

May 18, 2021 at Duke Farms
Photo 132039631, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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