Properties:
Analgesic, Anodyne, Astringent, Depurative, Diuretic, Tonic
 
Medicinal Uses:
Allergies, Alopecia/Baldness, Amenorrhea, Arthritis, Asthma, Bed Wetting/Incontinence, Female Hormones, Fibromyalgia, Herbal Teas, Kidney, Libido, Longevity Tonics, Menorrhagia, Nutrition, Osteoporosis, PMS, Prostate, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Spring Tonics
 
Description:
Urtica dioica is a dioecious herbaceous perennial of the Urticaceae family, 1 to 2 m (3 to 7 ft) tall in the summer and dying down to the ground in winter. It has widely spreading rhizomes and stolons, which are bright yellow as are the roots. The soft green leaves are 3 to 15 cm (1 to 6 in) long and are borne oppositely on an erect wiry green stem. They have a strongly serrated margin, with a cordate base and an acuminate tip with a terminal leaf tooth longer than adjacent laterals. It bears small greenish or brownish numerous flowers in dense axillary inflorescences. The leaves and stems are very hairy with non-stinging hairs and in most subspecies also bear many stinging hairs (trichomes), whose tips come off when touched, transforming the hair into a needle that will inject several chemical irritants.


Also Known As:
Nettle, stinging nettle, devil's claw, devil's plaything, burn nettle, burn hazel, burn weed.