Commonly confused with stinging nettles, especially before it flowers, but if you look really closely it doesn’t have the stinging hairs; Also, a top tip is that if it has any colour flowers other than green, it’s not a stinging nettle.
Habitat
Native to Europe and Asia. It was introduced to North America where it is naturalised now. Found in fields, hedgerows, woodland edges and clearings and moist waste ground.
Description
Lamium album is a perennial herb growing to 60cm tall, with green, four-angled stems and white flowers.
Etymology
The genus name Lamium comes from the Greek laimos, meaning throat, alluding to the throat-like appearance of the flowers in this genus. Album comes from the Latin albus, meaning white.
Identifying features
- Stem – The stems are softly hairy and square cross-sectioned.
- Leaves – The leaves are 3 to 8cm long and 2 to 5cm broad, triangular with a rounded base, softly hairy, and with a serrated margin. Similar to other members of the Lamiaceae family, the leaves appear superficially similar to those of the Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) but do not sting, hence the common name “dead-nettle”.
- Flowers – The flowers are white, arranged in whorls on the upper part of the stem, the individual flowers 1.5 to 2.5cm long, and typical of Lamiaceae family flowers have 5 petals fused together in groups of 2 and 3, forming upper and lower “lips” leading to a funnel. The flowers are visited by many types of insects, but mostly by bees.
Pictures
Uses
Food
Young leaves – raw or cooked. They can be added to salads or mixed with other leaves and cooked as a potherb4. They can also be dried for later use. They don’t have much of a flavour, compared to stinging nettles, but then they also don’t sting when you pick them!
Flowers – A pleasant herb tea is made from the flowers5.
Medicine
White dead nettle is astringent and demulcent, and can be used as a uterine tonic, to arrest inter-menstrual bleeding and to reduce excessive menstrual flow6. It is a traditional treatment for abnormal vaginal discharge and has been used to relieve painful periods6.
An infusion is used in the treatment of kidney and bladder complaints7, diarrhoea, and prostatitis5,6.
Externally, the plant is used as compresses and applied to piles, varicose veins and vaginal discharges5,6,7, and a homeopathic remedy can be made from the plant for treating bladder and kidney disorders and amenorrhoea7.
A distilled water from the flowers and leaves can be used as an effective eye lotion to relieve ophthalmic conditions8.
Other uses
None known.
Known Hazards
None known.
Harvesting
Appears from February. It is in flower from May to December, and the seeds ripen from July to December. For medicinal applications the plant is harvested in the summer and can be dried for later use.
Potential lookalikes
Stinging nettles are superficially similar, but have stinging hairs, and green flowers, but is also edible.
Mythology and Symbolism
A distillation of the flowers is reputed “to make the heart merry, to make a good colour in the face, and to make the vital spirits more fresh and lively9.
Sources
- Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamium_album
- PFAF – https://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Lamium+album
- Johnson, A.T., Smith, H.A., Stockdale, A.P. (2019). Plant Names Simplified. ISBN 9781910455067
- Facciola. S. Cornucopia – A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
- Bown. D. Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. Dorling Kindersley, London. 1995 ISBN 0-7513-020-31
- Chevallier. A. The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants Dorling Kindersley. London 1996 ISBN 9-780751-303148
- Launert. E. Edible and Medicinal Plants. Hamlyn 1981 ISBN 0-600-37216-2
- Chiej. R. Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Plants. MacDonald 1984 ISBN 0-356-10541-5
- Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
