What is this vicious plant?

[Carol Dee]

My vote is for stinging nettel, too.

 

[Hanalei]

Wow, it sure does a lot of stuff! Maybe I shoudl plant a bunch of it... (fenced in where I won't touch it, of course)

 

[NwMtGardener]

We have stinging nettle along some of the hiking trails here in NW montana, and BOY do I watch out for that plant!!! Horribly painful. I would say the stinging nettle I'm familiar with is more "olive-y" in color that what I see in your photos, and has a different texture to the leaves than what I'm seeing, but it is hard to judge stuff like that from a photo. Whatever it is, get it outta there

 

[peteyfoozer]

Azure standard sells stinging nettle for something like $12 a bag! I have pastures with tons of it!

 

[baymule]

Around here we call it bull nettle and it hurts!

 

[strantor]

Around here we call it bull nettle and it hurts!

Yeah my dad had loads of that menace on his property when I was growing up. Bull nettle is a little more ominous looking than that stinging nettle; something you should obviously stay away from, not a deceptively cute looking thing like the previous pic.

 

[hoodat]

Word of warning. Bull nettle is not a true nettle. It is in the spurge family and, like many of the spurges, is poisonous. Do not eat any part of it or try to use it as medicine. It has no resemblance to the true nettles in appearance. The nettle part of its' common names refers to the stinging hairs.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

A funny (or peculiar) thing about stinging nettles is that the remedy for the sting is usually growing near by. For some reason Jewelweed is almost always growing within 10 ft. of the nettles. If you snap a piece off of the Jewelweed stem and squeeze or milk it the gel that comes out will anesthetize the stinging nettle areas on your skin.

Have you guys ever watched the videos on youtube where people eat stinging nettles while walking in the woods? I think some of the vids are from permies.com

 

[digitS']

I have only eaten stinging nettle after cooking, Smiles. Surely they weren't eating that stuff raw!!

The flavor cooked wasn't much different from spinach.

I just learned why "dead nettle" (Lamium) is called that . . . It doesn't have the stinging hairs so it is . . . dead. It is also quite invasive around here.

Steve

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Look what eating raw stinging nettles did to the hair on these guy's!!!
Eating nettles #1.
Eating nettles #2.