Stinging Nettle has had a long history as a popular, nutritious and helpful plant. Used by North American First Nations for over 2000 years. Stinging Nettle is found in every region of North America except Hawaii.
Stinging nettles, burn nettles or ʕiiłmakt is an upright annual herb, with a four-sided slender stem, and its leaves are narrowly lance-shaped to oval and coarsely saw-toothed. Flowers are pinkish green with four tiny sepals and no petals. Stinging Nettle can be confused with the Dog Nettle, which is a smaller species introduced by Europeans in the mid-1700s.
This versatile plant is easy to identify, especially after its hollow stinging hairs make contact with your skin. This plant has hairs called trichomes on its leaves and stem that act like hypodermic needles, injecting a histamine that produces a stinging sensation and leaves a rash. Gloves and long sleeves are recommended when collecting nettles. Rubbing the nettles’ own root on the affected area can reduce the burning sensation and leaves from the dock plant can be used to treat the rash.
This high protein herb is full of minerals, tannis, chlorophyll and vitamins A and C. All parts of the plant can be used; the leaves are the best for medicinal purposes.
Traditionally, it has been used to treat a wide range of ailments such as gout, anemia, poor circulation, diarrhea and dysentery. A tea of dried leaves is rich in iron and can aid in coagulation and the formation of hemoglobin. It’s believed to increase a mother’s milk production.
Eating fresh soaked or boiled leaves can relieve bronchitis, asthma, hay fever, kidney stones and urinary tract infections. The leaves can be soaked in warm water for 10 minutes or boiled for one to two minutes to remove the sting from the nettle. They can be used in place of spinach in any recipe.
Fresh nettles can be stored in the fridge for up to a week, while frozen nettles can last up to six months in the freezer. Dried nettles stored in an airtight container can last years.
The Makah would chew the young shoots as a tonic to keep from getting sick. But only the newest shoots could be chewed, before they get “fuzzy” or else the tiny hairs would cause sores inside the mouth.
Nuu-chah-nulth whalers, seal hunters and fishermen would rub the nettles on their arms to give them strength. A spouse’s skin would be beaten with the plant to promote affection and faithfulness while their partner was away, according to the 1983 study Ethnobotany of the Nitinaht Indians of Vancouver Island.
First Nations would also use the fibrous stems of the mature nettles alone or spun together with cottonwood bast fibre, to make things like twine, snares, fishing nets and even duck nets. The nettles were harvested in the fall, dried and pounded to separate the soft tissue then spun, twisted or braided. The nettle cordage is extremely strong and durable and becomes even stronger after it has been processed, making it a vital plant for First Nations.
The Ditidaht would run nets made from stinging nettle across the Nitinaht narrows from the bluff at Whyac Village to the opposite side. Once the net was up some people would go up the narrows and flush the ducks down to be caught in the net.
The Cowichan people were documented to have used pigment rubbed on nettle thread and run under the skin with a fine hardwood needle to create tattoos.
Harvesting is a chore but worth the effort. Using gloves, pluck the leaves from the stem pre- or post-flowering depending on treatment use, starting in April. Use a knife to cut woody stalks late in the season when the plant is fully matured, around mid-September.
