ID please - nettle?

[rscott74]

I wonder what this is. I can't find it in my small Colltns Guide. It looks like a nettle and was
1m+ high

[Deer Stalker]

Stinging Nettle with the flowers tinged purple.

[rscott74]

Thanks Deer Stalker. I feel a bit of an idiot. I was fooled by the colouring and the amount of flowers. I also thought that I tested if it stung. Do stinging nettles lose their potency after blooming?

[Deer Stalker]

Originally Posted by rscott74

Do stinging nettles lose their potency after blooming?

Not really until they die down.

[rscott74]

I went back to site today and found that the nettles hardly stung. I had to remove a leaf or two and press them to my fingers and then I only got a very faint sting.
I make plant food from stinging nettles that grow near the house and if I get stung by them its fairly painful, slightly numbing and lasts a while. None of that was evident from the 'purple' nettle which was still blooming and had healthy green foliage.
Has anyone come across stinging nettles that don't have much of a sting and if so did it look different?
I still feel that the colour and amount of flowers in the picture is remarkably different from the nettles that I've seen around which have flowere that are white or pale yellow and are tiny and sparse

[ChrisJB]

I find that trying to get stung by a nettle isn't easy. I once read that you damage the stinging barbs if you are too rough, so they don't work properly.

Much more effective is to lightly brush against them, in shorts, they get me every time then.

Not that I have a penchant for brushing my bare legs against nettles on a regular basis or anything!

Regards, Chris

[Hornbeam]

I agree with you, Scotty. Weak stings and more flowers mean the Annual Nettle, methinks - Urtica urens. The ordinary stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) has the familiar painful sting that we all know and the flowers are much sparser

[JennyS]

Hi rscott, it is an ordinary Nettle (Urtica dioica), Annual/Small Nettle has shorter flowers (Urtica urens)

Annual Nettle

[colinaj]

There is a fenlan d species called Stingless nettle, Stace mentions it in his flora, I have seen this at Wheatfen Norfolk and Belton Common.

[Tormentil]

Originally Posted by Hornbeam

I agree with you, Scotty. Weak stings and more flowers mean the Annual Nettle, methinks - Urtica urens. The ordinary stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) has the familiar painful sting that we all know and the flowers are much sparser

Why do Dock leaves alleviate the sting ??