These plants CAN be a nuisance, with some species having stinging hairs… BUT they are edible and highly nutritious, with various other uses as well!
Of course the most famous – and most useful – of the nettles is the notorious “stinging nettle” that has tiny hairs that when brushed against leave an annoying tingle that seems to take HOURS to go away. I’m lucky cuz I have so much spotted jewelweed growing near my nettles (rub it on your skin!) – AND I’ve learned how to pick the leaves without getting myself “stung” – Hooray! :wink:
I will never forget the ONLY time I walked haphazardly through a patch of nettles – and regretted it for hours. Yet nettles is such an awesome plant – more protein per dry weight than almost any other leaf – and it dries so quickly and crumbles so easily… well, I can say there just isn’t much of a nettle overgrowth problem wherever I ramble with regularity.
Image Credits
(all pics from Pixabay = no attribution necessary)
The local Philippines call this woody vine "tayabak". Related to the green beans we grow in our gardens, this species' unique turquoise claw-shaped ...
