Are there nettles in North America?

[Quercus]

@pulykamell

Same here. The first few times I’ve gotten stung, it was a bit surprising and annoying, but after awhile I got used to it, and didn’t bother going out of my way to avoid them. In fact, they fascinated me as a child and I would purposely brush my hand against them sometimes to get stung. (And, no, I don’t particular have a masochistic streak, other than perhaps my love for hot peppers.)

I don’t even love hot peppers, but after clearing some nettles (using gloves, but they didn’t cover my forearms), I could understand going out and getting stung voluntarily; much like hot peppers there’s a little bit of a high from the stinging.

[lieu]

@JBDivmstr

Along the Texas Gulf coast I’ve always heard/referred to it as ‘Bull Nettle’. I can only recall being stung just once, when I was about twelve or so.

Man, that stuff is nasty! :eek:

Yep, nasty is almost an understatement. It’ll near make you Aron Ralston your ankle off.

[amanset]

@Floater

If I get stung by a nettle it hurts for a second or two and then it’s gone.

I guess like most things, people react in different ways. When I was young (it has been years since I have been stung now) the throb could last 2-3 days. I remember one particularly nasty incident in Scotland, I think around Oban, when I fell into a clump of the things when wearing shorts, getting stung on the inside thigh of both legs. That was bloody murder for at least two days with a huge rash with little bumps.

[dangermom]

@Toxylon

I’ve gathered and used nettle fiber for various low-tech projects. Nettle fiber is high quality stuff, very strong and lustrous, but extremely labor-intensive to utilize. Put your fingertips together and form a circle in front of you. That amount of nettle stalks yields a small ball of fiber.

I’ve simply peeled off the fiber from mature six-foot stalks by cracking them lengthwise and snapping the brittle, dry interior pulp off bit by bit, aboriginal-style, leaving the supple, shiny green fiber intact. Historically, there have been attempts at large-scale nettle fiber production around Europe, but all these seem to have died out due to the low yield problem. Old textile textbooks give very high strength figures for nettle fiber, so there’s nothing wrong with the material itself.

Gathering nettles bare-handed is easy - just grab the lower stalk and avoid the leaves. Nettle leaves can be eaten raw, as long as they are thoroughly mashed beforehand to break the stinging hairs.

That sounds about like what I’ve heard. I’ve also heard that some Scandinavian women collected nettles to make cloth during WWII. The author’s mother was a Danish weaver, so I figured that was reliable, but it can’t have yielded much.

[Mister_Rik]

@RaftPeople

They are common in Western WA

@Lemur866

Nettles are everywhere here in the Pacific Northwest. And I always tell my kids to rub a dock leaf on their nettle stings. It’s a decent placebo.

I grew up in Vancouver, WA, and yeah, those things were everywhere. Though I have no idea what a dock leaf is - the photos here don’t spark any memories of the plant. Our antidote was horsetail juice. Fortunately, the horsetails were nearly as common as the nettles around where I lived. We just popped the segments of horsetail apart and squeezed the juice out.

I don’t recall seeing many, if any, nettles in Eastern WA. Too dry, maybe.

[carnut]

@PaulParkhead

Dock leaves. It’s a common folk remedy for nettle stings in the UK.

Thanks for that. It appears dock grows in this area too so next time I experience nettles, I’ll look for some dock to give it a try.

[ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies]

@Tamerlane

sigh

I have had the charming experience of encountering stinging nettle on my bare ass near the NorCal coast. It involved an explosive stomach virus that wouldn’t wait and an overmodest scramble into high weeds without looking around carefully, all while being out in the middle of nowhere in the Mendocino National Forest. The worst part is I knew the second things had begun what was happening, but due to the dire intestinal distress I was in I had to suck it up until I was done or risk making a horrible mess all over myself.

I know it sounds like an abandoned joke from a particularly putrid sitcom reject pile, but sadly it is all to true. Though I retrospect I do admire my own gritty fortitude in toughing it out ;).

Were you anywhere near Bear Harbor? It is absolutely crawling with nettle, but is so beautiful that it is worth the pain. Our family homestead is about 40-50 miles due north.

[Tamerlane]

@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies

Were you anywhere near Bear Harbor?

No, further south - it would have been somewhere east of Mendocino proper. In fact looking at a map, it was probably either somewhere in Mendocino Headlands State Park or else in the Jackson Demonstration State Forest, probably the latter, rather than the Mendocino National Forest. MNF looks to be further east than we were.

But I envy you your north coast home :). It is indeed beautiful country, well worth a sore butt.

[Hippy_Hollow]

Not many people know this, but I have a mortifying fear of stinging nettles, especially big one. My sister pushed me in a patch when I was about four and I distinctly remember panicking and trying to find a way out. Well, I left the UK in the mid 80s, and hadn’t thought about those bastards (sans the time I saw them in Peter Gabriel’s “Digging in the Dirt” video. That is until I moved to San Luis Obispo, CA and saw a MASSIVE patch on a hike to Bishop’s Peak. Made my blood run cold.

That is one evil plant!

[griffin1977]

@Hippy_Hollow

Not many people know this, but I have a mortifying fear of stinging nettles, especially big one. My sister pushed me in a patch when I was about four and I distinctly remember panicking and trying to find a way out. Well, I left the UK in the mid 80s, and hadn’t thought about those bastards (sans the time I saw them in Peter Gabriel’s “Digging in the Dirt” video. That is until I moved to San Luis Obispo, CA and saw a MASSIVE patch on a hike to Bishop’s Peak. Made my blood run cold.

That is one evil plant!

I always used to fear them with a vengence. They were me nemesis as a kid in England. It seems like every awesome day out messing around in the countryside was ruined by them (esp the little ones they stung).

Though nowadays I hardly notice them. Dunno is that’s feature of their (or my) biology, or if I was just a wussie kid

FWIW I’m not allergic to poison oak, not sure these facts are related.

[Alan_Smithee]

I first encountered nettles as a child visiting my grandmother in the UK. I’d never heard of them before and assumed they were a British thing. I never heard of them in the US until last year, and I’m 34!

[Floater]

@dangermom

That sounds about like what I’ve heard. I’ve also heard that some Scandinavian women collected nettles to make cloth during WWII. The author’s mother was a Danish weaver, so I figured that was reliable, but it can’t have yielded much.

What you need to know about nettlecloth.

[Hippy_Hollow]

Nettlephobes, Peter Gabriel wants your attention: Peter Gabriel - Digging In The Dirt (1992) - YouTube

(see around 3:57)

[Troppus]

@Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party

This would explain why the most painful nettle stings seem to be from those plants that grow next to streams and rivers?

In the southeastern US, we have oodles of stinging nettles growing in damp soil, and dead nettles in dry soil. (Dead nettle resembles stinging nettle, but is unrelated) Meanies in my neighborhood would grab a handful near the base and whip a nearby kid in the back of the knees with the plant. Can’t think of a more sensitive area to get stung, this would cause the recipient to walk in stiff-legged circles while trying not to cry. Toughing this out was very effective initiation into any club.

Juicy-stemmed [Jewel weed](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2ADFA_enUS343&=&q=jewel+weed&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=873l10255l0l10503l20l14l2l1l1l0l287l2143l0.4.6l10l0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&biw=1920&bih=1033&sei= p2y5ToarEcL22AWTrcXQBw) grows nearby and is a common folk remedy for nettles, bees, and poison ivy.

[irishgirl]

Awesome! Ignorance fought.