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Benefits |
Preparation |
Medicinal Uses |
Side Effects |
Plant |
Folklore |
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| Common Names |
| Nettle , Stinging Nettle, Common Nettle |
| Botanical Name |
| Urtica dioica |
| Family |
| URTICACEAE Nettle |
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Nettles are a potent herb with a long history of use. This herb is one of natures best nutraceuticals, containing protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium, beta-carotene, along with vitamins A,C, D, and B complex, all in a form that is easy for the body to use.
The stinging comes from the presence on the bristles of histamine that delivers a stinging burn when the hairs on the leaves and stems are touched.
Extracts of nettle roots are reliable diuretics that encourage excretion of uric acid, but simultaneously discourage nighttime bathroom urges, making this remarkable plant useful for such disparate problems as gout, bed-wetting, and, the overnight urinary woes of benign prostate enlargement.
Nettles use a tonic of the female system goes back to the Native American women who used it throughout pregnancy and as a remedy to stop hemorrhaging during childbirth. It is considered one of the best all round women's tonics.
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Prep Methods :Teas, poultice, tinctures. Use two teaspoons of dried nettles per pint of boiling water for table or afternoon tea and increase to three to four teaspoons per pint for medicinal tea .The completely dried herb can be sprinkled onto food. The fresh young plants cooked until tender are excellent with just a little butter.
 Remedies using Nettle
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 Flies dislike nettles and a bunch hung by the kitchen door will keep them out. | | Nettles are high in boron, the Rheumatoid Disease Foundation recommends getting 3 milligrams of boron a day. | | Replace coffee, tea and sodas, with nourishing herbal teas, especially stinging nettle, oatstraw and comfrey. | | Leftover nettle tea also makes nutritious house plant water and leaves or dregs can be sprinkled on potted plant soil to boost mineral content. | | Finely crushed, dried nettles can be used in place of dried parsley for adding enlivening color to soups, stews or any dish calling for a sprinkle of greenery. | | Strongly brewed nettle tea and powdered plant are noted for having power to stop hemorrhaging, internal bleeding and excessive flow from wounds and cuts. |
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Allergies/hay Fever *
Amenorrhea *
Arthritis *
Asthma *
Childbirth *
Female Tonics *
Fibromyalgia *
Kidney *
Menorrhagia *
Osteoporosis *
PMS *
Prostate health *
Sexual tonics *
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| Reproductive system tonic | | Nettles are a good general tonic of the female reproductive system, excellent for young women just starting their monthly cycle,as well as women entering menopause. 930
(Gladstar, Rosemary ) | | Bronchitis, Asthma | | Nettle is anti-asthmatic, the juice of the roots or leaves, mixed with honey or sugar will relieve bronchial and asthmatic troubles, and the dried leaves, burnt and inhaled will have the same effect. 328
(Grieve, Maude ) | | Childbirth | | Used to stimulate mothers milk, and to restore a woman's energy after childbirth. 929
| | Pain relief | | Magnesium is needed to moderate pain response. Large amounts are available in oatstraw or nettle infusions, whole grains, legumes and leafy greens. 1192
(Weed, Susan ) | | Water retention, PMS | | Helps reduce water retention and soothes PMS symptoms. 931
| | Excessive menstruation | | A specific remedy for excessive menstruation, it helps control and prevent hemorrhaging. 932
(Gladstar, Rosemary ) | | Hay fever | | Stinging nettle contains natural antihistamines and anti-inflammatories (including quercetin), that open up constricted bronchial and nasal passages. Some herbal authorities assert that no other remedy eases hay fever symptoms so markedly. 710
(Duke, James A, Ph.D. ) | | osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, tendinitis and bursitis | | The anti-inflammatory substances join with the rich concentration of the minerals boron and silicon to help ease the pain of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, tendinitis and bursitis. The leaves can be used raw and applied directly to the rheumatic pain area, they increase circulation and draw out pain. 798
| | Enlarged prostate | | For the purposes of men's sexual health, the key ingredients in stinging nettles are the sterols, that appear to lessen the action of DHT, the form of testosterone that causes the prostate to enlarge. 799
| | Amenorrhea - Loss of Period | | Nettle leaf infusion has reportedly returned the monthly flow to women drinking it regularly, even in their sixties. Dong quai tincture, especially when combined with white peony root and licorice, is a superb remedy for women whose menses cease unaccountably. 1186
(Weed, Susan ) | | Water retention, kidney | | Frequent use of nettle tea, a cup or more daily, rapidly relieves and helps prevent water retention. Nettle is a superb nourisher of the kidneys and adrenals. 1188
(Weed, Susan ) | | Acute arthritis, osteo, rheumatoid | | In a scientific study of patients with acute arthritis, stewed stinging nettle leaves enhanced the anti-inflammatory effect of diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication (NSAID) 1231
. Stinging Nettle. (2007-12-13), www.umm.edu  | | Osteoporosis | | Taking mineral rich herbs in capsule or tincture form won't do much for your bones. One cup of nettle tincture contains the same amount of calcium - 300 mg - as one cup of nettle infusion. Many women drink two or more cups of herbal tea a day, but no one drinks a cup of tincture! The boron in nettles helps protect bones. Nettle provide a good green source of calcium along with protein 1309
(Susun Weed ) | | Testosterone | | Several studies have shown that stinging nettles can keep your testosterone circulating freely and keep you feeling sexually vital. 503
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| Side Effects: |
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| The sting of the nettle can cause a rash in some people. It is a strange fact the the juice of the nettle can provide relief for its own sting. It can also be relieved by rubbing leaves of rosemary, mint or sage. |
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(Whole plant,1879,Millspaugh, Charles F.[99])
 Nettles, despite their perfect adaptation to North America, are not native but where brought over from England by John Josselyn. This hardy plant can be seen on nature walks throughout temperate regions throughout the world and presents a pretty and delicate array of greenish-white flowers, and of course the bristles and hairs that put the 'sting' into stinging nettles.
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 This is also an herb Mars claims dominion over. Nettle-tops eaten in the Spring consume the phlegmatic superfluities in the body of man, that the coldness and moistness of Winter hath left behind. Nicholas Culpeper |
 In Hans Andersons fairy-tale of the Princess and the Eleven Swans, the coats she wove for them were made of nettles. Indeed nettle fibers, like hemp and flax have been used for textiles. A quaint old superstition exited that a fever could be dispelled by plucking a Nettle up by its roots, reciting therby the names of the sick man and also the names of his family.
Called "wergulu" in old Wessex in the tenth century, nettle was one of the nine sacred herbs, along with mugwort, plantain, watercress, chamomile, crab apple, chervil, and fennel. |
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Annies Remedys
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