Stinging Nettle
(Scientific Name: Urtica
lyallii)
Description:
Tall plants whose square stems and coarsely toothed,
heart-shaped leaves are covered with stinging hairs. Clusters
of inconspicuous greenish flowers droop from the axils of the
leaves.
Habitat:
Grows in shade or sun in rich, most soil along streams and in waste
areas. Appears in the early spring just before leaves of deciduous
trees appear.
Uses: One of the most nutritious and tasty of
any plant food, nettles are rich in vitamins A and C and protein.
Collect young plants for greens or tea when they are less than a
foot high. Cook as you would spinach. For tea, dry the young plants,
rub the leaves from the stalks, and use like regular tea. Indians
twisted the fibrous inner bark of the mature plants into a very
strong twine which they used for fish lines and nets.
