Stinging Nettle (urtica dioica)

A vigorous, upright perennial, spreading by rhizomes. Stems are covered with stinging hairs. Contact with these hairs causes intense itching, usually of short duration. The plants can usually be handled comfortably by the leaves, which generally lack stinging hairs. Young shoots gathered in spring, or tender new growth at stem tips during the summer, are good as a cooked vegetable or, especially, as an addition to soups or stews. (Cooking quickly inactivates the stinging hairs.) Nettle greens are unusually high in protein, as compared with most other leafy vegetables. The mature stems of nettles contain a strong fiber which has been used to make fabrics.