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| There are stingy thingys on the underside of the leaves and on the stems but you can't see them here. |
Seriously.
Does anyone know?
At this point after referring to the internets I am 99% sure, but wondered if there are any plant experts lurking about.
I noticed it in my motherwort patch last fall and let it go ahead and seed to see if it would come back and spread, and it seems it has.
Stinging nettle is very high in vitamins and iron. My obsession with herbal teas started back when I was pregnant with my fifth child. We had decided to forgo the hospital birth and try a homebirth with midwives.
Don't get me started on tea unless you want this:
The midwives took such a different approach to prenatal care than what I had experienced in the medical realm. They suggested a pregnancy tea. It had mostly red raspberry leaves, but did included stinging nettles. If this is what I've got here I'll be all like this:
Here is Susan Weed talking about the calcium in stinging nettles.
Great post but I'll pass on both tea and nettle soup, thank you though!
ReplyDeleteGregg Metcalf
Colossians 1:28-29
Gospel-driven Disciples
You asked me too soon - we just started Botany (Apologia) yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea it was high in calcium, though. Going to have to get me some of that.
LOL! You made me laugh with those little characters! I love tea and have always used them for different reasons.My favorite is ginger root tea. Great post. Blessings, Joanne
ReplyDeleteI'm not an herb specialist; but, that looks like a very common invasive nettle-weed around here. I didn't know it had any redeeming qualities. Now if you can find a good use for saw-briar, poison ivy, wild roses, and burmuda grass, I'll be in business!
ReplyDeleteI'm not an expert but let us know what you find out. I've learned something else today, and I'm with Cathy, except let me throw in dandelions too. :-) Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi Ma,
ReplyDeleteThat sure does look like Stinging Nettle to me! You sure will know if you rub up against it and it stings you and then burns and itches all at once. Some people are highly allergic to it and will form a rash that spreads.
I have a ton of tea from this plant but not that I have picked, only bought. This weed grows wild where I live and I have so much of it. :P I have two horses that are very sensitive to it and when they rub their nose against it they blister. :(
I too love wild teas and I will make wild rose petal tea, wonderful!! And the smell in the house when dehydrating the petals is so wonderful!
Blessings,
<><
Oh yea!! It is a good idea to bring the plant into a place where you will know for sure because you sure do not want to mix it up with something that can harm you.
ReplyDeleteI live in the northwest and things can look very different here.
Smiles,
<><
Thanks everyone! I'm pretty sure that's what it is too...joy!
ReplyDeleteChild of God, I will do some more research, though, just to be on the safe side:)
I have no idea but this post cracked me up.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it made you chuckle:)
ReplyDeleteMade me laugh-we have more stinging nettles than we want to see round here. Your photo looks very much like one but I'm no plant expert. We make nettle soup with ours. It is only good with the young plant not the old tough ones and please, please use gloves to pick. It doesn't sting once cooked and tastes a bit like spinach.
ReplyDeleteI am still a novice at this...someone once warned me about nettles, AFTER I got stung by them, ouch! I guess there's a right and a wrong way to handle these "herbs" :-)
ReplyDelete@ Penned Pebbles: Dandelions are supposed to be very rich in vitamins!!! I haven't tried them...I think you can add them to salad like a lettuce. I had huge dandelions when I lived in Rosamond, Ca. They were almost as tall as me. A girl I worked with at the time told me she wanted them and juiced them every time I brought her some. One day she had to have a blood test when she went to the doctor and the doctor told her he was amazed with her lab results, and that she had very "healthy blood" (her words, not sure what the doctor actually said,is that something a doctor would say...?not sure). Anyway, she was always ready to take more of my "weeds" :-)
My midwives were the ones who gave me the skinny on dandelions, too. I ate lots of them while pregnant with #6...My hubby says that is why she was so huge (10 lbs...I'm not bragging, but :P)
ReplyDeleteSusan, I can't imagine dandelions that tall! I'm kind of afraid to pick the nettles, but will be extra careful:)
"I can't imagine dandelions that tall..."
ReplyDeleteLoL, yeah, I'd never seen them that huge either, but it seems it was the only thing I could grow there...well, actually that's not completely true. I did have beautiful rose bushes there and hollyhocks that quickly took over the rest of my small yard. The hollyhocks became more of a nuisance than the dandelions were. Their roots got firmly anchored into that concrete "soil" and were tough to pull out, and they shot out thousands of seeds! Reminded me of the sorcerer's apprentice, sort of...