Blind Nettle
- Lamium album L.
- Nettle family
Common Names
 Dead nettle
Nettle flowers
Stingless nettle
White archangel
White dead-nettle
White nettle
Parts Usually Used
Plant, flowers
Description of Plant(s) and
Culture
Blind nettle is a perennial plant; the hollow quadrangular stem is hairy, little-branched, and green or sometimes violet-hued. The leaves are opposite, petioled, ovate and cordate, hairy on both sides, and serrate. White bilabiate flowers appear from April to October.
Where Found
Found in gardens and waste grounds of New England, and in Europe along roadsides, hedges, fences, walls, railroad embankments, and thickets.
Medicinal Properties
Antispasmodic, astringent, expectorant, styptic
Legends, Myths and Stories
According to an old recipe book, steel dipped in the juice of this plant becomes flexible.
Uses
An infusion made from the plant is used for leucorrhea, irregular menstrual periods, and weak menstrual flow, stomach and intestinal problems, and vaginal douches. The infusion can be used as a bath additive to relieve uterine cramps, boils, and tumors. A poultice of boiled leaves and flowers can be used for tumors, boils, sores, varicose veins, and gouty pains. A tea or tincture made from the flowers is used for insomnia. Use young leaves in a salad for a spring tonic. Acts as astringent and is soothing with specific action on the reproductive system, reducing benign prostate enlargement and acting as a uterine tonic; useful after prostate surgery.
Formulas or Dosages
Infusion: use 2 tsp. plant or flowers with 1 cup water. Take 1 to 1 1/2 cups a day, unsweetened, a mouthful at a time.
Powder: take 1/4 to 1/2 tsp., 3 times a day.
Tincture: 15 ml. per day.
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