Blind Nettle
Parts Usually Used
Plant, flowers
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Blind nettle is a perennial plant; the hollow quadrangular stem is hairy, little-branched, and green or sometimes violet-hued. The leaves are opposite, petioled, ovate and cordate, hairy on both sides, and serrate. White bilabiate flowers appear from April to October.
Where Found
Found in gardens and waste grounds of New England, and in Europe along roadsides, hedges, fences, walls, railroad embankments, and thickets.
Medicinal Properties
Antispasmodic, astringent, expectorant, styptic
Legends, Myths and Stories
According to an old recipe book, steel dipped in the juice of this plant becomes flexible.
Uses
Historical herbalists prepared an infusion of the plant for leucorrhea, irregular or weak menstrual flow, and gastrointestinal complaints, as well as for use as a vaginal douche. Herbal traditions also employed the infusion as a bath additive intended for uterine cramps and boils. Topically, practitioners applied poultices of boiled leaves and flowers to boils, sores, varicose veins, and gouty pains.
A tea or tincture made from the flowers was traditionally taken for sleeplessness. The young leaves were occasionally consumed in salads as a spring tonic. In older herbal systems, the plant was regarded as an astringent, a uterine tonic, and a soothing agent with specific action on the reproductive system, where it was recommended for benign prostate enlargement and post-surgical prostate care.
Bibliography
, Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. , Copyright 1988, published 1992 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.