Wildlife
Stinging nettles are easily recognised and, unfortunately, often easily felt as the whole plant is covered in stinging hairs. This is an effective way to avoid being eaten and makes patches of stinging nettles an important haven for many caterpillars and other insects. Cooking destroys the venom, and produces a pretty tasty vegetable or nutritious soup. Nettles contain more iron than spinach and are a rich source of vitamin C. Nettle tea is a favourite herbal medicine used to treat conditions such as gout and rheumatism.
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How do stinging nettles sting?
Dr Yan takes the sting out of nettles to answer a user's science question.
Ouch! Dr Yan takes the sting out of nettles to answer a question from Ellen in New York, who asked: How do stinging nettles sting?
Crowding out competition
Nettles are a haven for insects and spiders.
Nettles are a haven for insects and spiders.
Vampire plant
Parasitic dodder plants suck the life out of healthy nettles.
A relative of bindweed, the dodder climbs in a similar way, its tendrils always searching and winding around other plants. Timelapse shows how it vigorously entwines itself around its victim until a whole nettle bed is overwhelmed by hundreds of writhing dodder stems.
The Stinging nettle can be found in a number of locations including: Africa, Asia, China, Europe, Indian subcontinent, North America, Russia, United Kingdom, Wales. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
The following habitats are found across the Stinging nettle distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Stinging nettle or common nettle, Urtica dioica, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant, native to Europe, Asia, northern Africa, and North America, and is the best-known member of the nettle genus Urtica. The plant has many hollow stinging hairs called trichomes on its leaves and stems, which act like hypodermic needles, injecting histamine and other chemicals that produce a stinging sensation when contacted by humans and other animals. The plant has a long history of use as a medicine and as a food source.
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Garden wildlife
From badgers to butterflies and frogs to foxes, garden wildlife is both varied and surprising.
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Oak wood
Farmland
Brownfield land
Chalk grassland
Coastal
Beech wood
Heathland
Hedgerows
Limestone pavements
Marsh
Wildflower meadow
Mediterranean forest
Mountain grassland
Moorland
Parkland
Broadleaf forest
Coniferous forest
Temperate grassland
Urban
