Nettle Leaf: History and Benefits

In simpler, slower paced times than that in which we live, people all over the world were savvy about the healing power of plants such as nettle leaf. In fact, nettle has been included in herbalist writings for centuries. For the last fifty or sixty years in the United States nettle has grown unnoticed by streams, has been cursed by campers who got into it, and has been sprayed with herbicides by those who considered it an intolerable pest.

Nettle Leaf: History and Benefits

Nettle Leaf: History and Benefits

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Nettle Leaf: History and Benefits

Nettle Leaf: History and Benefits

After years of being ignored or held in contempt, the nettle star is rising. Perhaps it is the disenchantment with modern drugs or the cost of those drugs that is sending many back the the ancient wisdom of the healing power of plants. Nettle is a major player on this stage.

Over the centuries herbalists have agreed that nettle leaf is a diuretic, astringent, galactagogue, hemostatic, and a tonic. This is an impressive list. Modern research is tying these properties to the vitamins and minerals abundant in nettle leaf. For instance, this herb is high in vitamin K which helps blood to clot. No wonder women approaching childbirth were encouraged to drink plenty of nettle tea.

What might have once been passed off as folklore now has a scientific explanation. As more is discovered about the connection between vitamin/minerals and the alleviation of common health problems, the nettle leaf score will continue to increase. This is one herb to take a close look at, to study, and to experiment with.

Gathering Nettle Leaf

Nettle is a perennial plant growing dormant in the winter and returning with gusto in the spring. It loves moisture and grows merrily where there is abundant ground water: around spring holes, by streams, near leaky irrigation pipes. A stand of nettle can reach seven feet given the right growing conditions.

The herb is commonly known as stinging nettle and for a good reason. The nettle is covered with tiny needle-like spines. If you don't know this in advance, you could be in big trouble on the front end of a foraging campaign. Each little needle injection a stinging potion into your skin. The stinging can continue for some time.

The wise nettle forager wears long pants, a long-sleeved shirt and a heavy pair of gloves. Do less than this and you will never forage for nettle leaf again!

Use clippers on the nettle stems, the longer handled, the better. Keep as much distance as possible between the nettle plants and you. Place the pruning in a box or large bag for the trip home.

Enjoying Nettle Leaf Benefits

Left to itself, nettle makes a pretty insipid tea. Well, add lemon and honey and you have some flavor. Consider it a hot lemonade. But, you can add a variety of flavor-filled herbs like mint, lemon verbena, chamomile, or orange blossoms.

To brew the tea, put about 3 tablespoon of herb in a cup and fill with boiling water. Cover the cup with a saucer or such to keep the brew warm while it works its magic. Oils, vitamins and minerals are released into the hot water, leaving them highly absorbed for you. Sweeten to taste if you desire.

If you want to drink the tea through the day, use a large tea pot for brewing once. Drink at room temperature after the pot cools. Heating the tea after the initial brew could destroy some of the nutritive value.

Large, dense infusions can be made for baths. In her Herbal Body Book Jeanne Rose recommends nettle baths to stimulate the skin and increase circulation. She even suggests it might help with arthritis. This is one herb to experiment with.

Nettle Leaf: History and Benefits