Description
Green nettle is a herbaceous, vivacious plant of up
to 1 m in height. It’s provided with stinging hairs. The stems are
erect and quadrangular. Leaves are oval-shaped, toothed and pointy. Flowers are
small, green and not very showy, unisexual displaced in racemes. Fruit is a dry
achene.
The plant has rigid hairs that sting and are painful to the touch. These
stinging hairs are hollow and have resistant walls and hold inside a burning
substance that become harmless when it gets dry or if the soak injured part in
water as hot as can be borne without damage. As it can be identified by touch,
in some languages it is known as ‘herb of the blind’.
It is a weed of a cosmopolitan distribution. Green nettle prefers humid soils rich in organic matter. It blooms in spring and summer.
Part used
The whole plant and sometimes the root.
Indications
Leaves
> Genitourinary infections: cystitis, urethritis,
prostatitis, pyelonephritis.
> Kidney stones
> Benign prostatic hyperplasia.
> Whenever an increase of diuresis is necessary: edemas, oliguria, over
weight with water retention, hyperuricemia, gout, hyperazotemia, edemas due to
vein deficiency.
> Arthralgia, bone and muscular rheumatism.
> Anemia due to vitamin and mineral deficit, convalescence and asthenia.
> Diabetes.
> Hepatobiliary dyskinesia, cholecystitis, diarrhea.
> Pancreatitis (enzymatic production is increased).
> Skin conditions: acne, seborrheic dermatitis, etc.
> Scalp disorders: dandruff, oily hair, hair loss, etc.
> Stomatitis, pharyngitis.
> Vulvovaginitis.
> Hyperhidrosis.
> Hemorrhoids.
Roots
> Prostatitis, benign prostatic hyperplasia, post-operatory
conditions of adenectomy.