I live in Maple Ridge, BC, just outside of Vancouver. The back corner of my lot usually gets over grown with hay/grass and blackberries so I was out yesterday pruning and whacking them when I disturbed this weed. What looks like flowers actually seem to be more like spores that dispersed similar to a dandelion and when they came into contact with my bare arms and hands (lesson learned!), it felt almost like bee stings that didn't come out. Although I'm sure probably it's quite a common one, I've looked as best I could but I can't find anything that resembles it. Thankfully, there wasn't that many of them and they were pretty easy to take out. The one in this picture is about 6 feet tall. At least the grasshoppers like it! What is it?
If you are lucky and they grow back next spring, try harvesting them (leather gloves) when they are small (1 foot tall, two at most, April usually), steaming to remove the sting, and preparing/eating like spinach. Delicious, and nutritionally great! My favourite recipe (from Turner and Szczawinski) is french creamed nettles: Steamed, chopped fine, brief sautee with butter, flour, cream or wine, pepper, nutmeg and finely chopped nuts. I wish I had these growing at my place :-). -frog
Nettles are reportedly high in iron and calcium, vitamin A and C. A friend and neighbour makes nettle pesto. If you're interested I can track down the recipe.
the only thing they are good for is target practice with round up! deer like them but i have been stung to many times as a kid haha
Ahhh, stinging nettle, eh? I never knew what it looked like and I expected it would have thorns that did the stinging, not tiny little hairs. Thanks for all the replies. If I remember, I'll try to save some for you guys next spring. ;) p.s. Ironically, according to Wikipedia, "many folk remedies exist for treating the itching including horsetail (Equisetopsida spp.)....". That's the another pesky weed I've got way to much of.
Advice for when you remove it... I couldn't quite remember what my grandmother's rhyme was, as it was perhaps 20 years ago that she recited it to me, but thanks to the power of the combined memory of the internet I have found it: Tender-handed, stroke a nettle, And it stings you for your pains. Grasp it like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains. Apparently it's a traditional British rhyme.
