Urtica dioica 1:1 extract: nettle in liquid form
The stinging nettle is a perennial that often grows past knee height and comes up in dense patches rather than alone. Its stem is four angled and, like the leaves, covered in stinging hairs: fine brittle bristles that snap on contact and irritate the skin. The leaves sit in opposite pairs, dull green with a coarsely toothed edge. Flowers barely register, small green tassels without petals hanging from the leaf axils. The species name dioica refers to how those are divided, since male and female flowers usually sit on separate plants. Rhizomes and seed spread the plant widely, which is why you rarely meet a single nettle.
Urtica dioica started out in the cooler parts of northern Europe and Asia and now grows almost everywhere. It wants deep, rich, moist soil and turns up along ditches and stream banks, at woodland edges, in hedgerows and on disturbed ground behind sheds and on wasteland. In the kitchen the plant has a long record: young shoots and top leaves were picked in spring for soup and porridge, known in Britain as nettle pudding, and once cooked they no longer sting because the hairs are destroyed. Research on the fresh plant shows it contains vitamin C and iron among other things. Nettle is also a larval host plant for butterflies, the painted lady and the red admiral included. This extract works at a 1:1 ratio in a 10 ml bottle, so about one gram of plant material per millilitre; a stronger extract such as 2.5:1 holds more than twice as much in that same millilitre.
Dosing and use
Shake the bottle briefly and measure a few drops into a glass of water or tea, or take them under the tongue. Nettle tastes green and a little grassy, a flavour that a cup of herbal tea softens. Start with a few drops and build up gently if you want to. The extract does not sting: the stinging hairs belong to the fresh plant and do not survive processing.
Storage and precautions
Keep the bottle cool, dry and dark with the cap closed properly, and out of reach of young children. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding or on medication, talk to your doctor first. Avalon Magic Plants carries dozens of other 1:1 extracts in the same category, among them dandelion, marigold, peppermint, chamomile and thyme. Every order leaves our warehouse discreetly packed.
