Nettle Leaf

Western Bulk Herbs – Nettle Leaf

Nettle can help with anemia and slow bleeding from wounds as well as menstrual bleeding. It is also used to treat hay fever, insect bites, asthma, and skin conditions that cause itching. The juice from the leaf may be used to take the sting out of stinging nettle when you get stung when picking them.

Nettles are used to increase breast milk in nursing mothers and detoxifying the body. From the root of the nettle a treatment is made to help an enlarged prostate.

Latin Name:
Urtica urens

Common Names:
Stinging Nettles, Common Nettle, Gerrais, Isirgan, Kazink, Ortiga, Grande Ortie, Ortie, Urtiga, Chichicaste, and Brennessel

Parts Used:
Root and leaf.

Properties:
Diuretic, antiallergenic, prostate health, astringent, tonic, breast milk production

Traditional Uses:
Extract, decoction, in capsules and made into paste, creams and salves.

Topical Uses / Applications:

Culinary Uses:
Not used in cooking.

Chemical Properties:
glucoquinone, calcium, silicic acid, potassium, iron, flavonoids, amines, phenols, sterols

Folk Lore:
The historian Westmacott says: “Scotch cloth is only the housewifery of the nettle. In Friesland, also, it was used till a late period.” The poet, Campbell, complaining of the little attention paid to the Nettle in England, states:
“In Scotland, I have eaten nettles, I have slept in nettle sheets, and I have dined off a nettle tablecloth. The young and tender nettle is an excellent potherb. The stalks of the old nettle are as good as flax for making cloth. I have heard my mother say that she thought nettle cloth more durable than any other species of linen.” Grieve’s Modern Herbal

Cautions:
Although Nettles are considered GRAS: Generally Recognized as Safe and are commonly eaten in a similar manner to spinach, caution should still be taken. Excessive internal use should be avoided during pregnancy. Avoid use if you have edema due to heart disorders or kidney insufficiency. Be aware of allergic hypersensitivity.

*Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Resources:
PDR for Herbal Medicines, 2000. Medical Economics Company, Montvale, New Jersey.

The New Holistic Herbal. David Hoffmann, 1990. Barnes and Noble Books, New York.

A Modern Herbal, Mrs. M. Grieve, (Dover Publications, New York, 1971)

Major Herbs of Ayurvedic.Compiled by Dahur Research Foundation and Dahur Ayurvet Limited, Ghaziabad, India., 2002. Churchill Livingstone, London, England.

Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica, Third Edition, Dan Bensky and Andrew Gamble, 1986. Eastland Press, Seattle, WA.