Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioicia)

Nettles are an amazing food and medicine plant. Adaptive to a wide range of soils and conditions, these plants will quickly spread, both by rhizomes and by seeds.

As a food they are incredibly nutritious, rich in vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, and antioxidants. Also rich in flavor, they are great in soups or sautéed as a green. The new growth in the spring is the most tender and best for cooking, but it’s possible to keep cutting them back and harvesting them like this throughout the season.

Nettles also make a popular tea for immune support, and different parts of the plant harvested at different times have numerous herbal uses. And although they can get a bad rap for causing discomfort when you touch them, unlike other plants which cause skin irritations, like poison ivy or parsnip, when nettles sting you it can actually be very beneficial for your body. The hairs that cover the plants act like tiny hypodermic needles, injecting you with various chemicals including histamine, acetylcholine, serotonin, and formic acid, which cause the temporary rash and stinging sensation nettles are famous for, but also stimulate your circulatory and lymphatic systems, reducing inflammation and speeding up the regeneration of damaged tissues in the area where they’ve touched you.