Purple Dead Nettle and Why You Should Forage For Them!
As you step outside, sun warming your skin, you begin to feel the subtle change of the season. The chill on the breeze isn’t as harsh, the day is just a bit longer, and tiny green specks of life peek out of warmed soil.
Spring is in the air!
Then you notice. Carpets of purple spread out before you like welcome mats. Welcoming in the new season.
Purple dead nettle (Lamium purpureum) is one of the first things we begin to see as winter fades into Spring. It and the red buds truly kick off my Spring foraging season, which is my favorite time by the way!
To most people this humble little plant is nothing more than a weed that pops up in yards, pastures, and roadsides. Purple dead nettle is so much more than that!
If you’re new to foraging and wild foods dead nettle is a great place to start! Make sure when you’re foraging you’re being a responsible wild-crafter + harvester. If you haven’t read my post about foraging responsibly you can do that here (Foraging for Beginners).
Without further ado let’s get into why Purple Dead Nettle is a favorite of mine, and why you too should be harvesting it!
It’s easy to identify - purple dead nettle (Lamium purpureum) doesn’t have any dangerous look alike plants. It got its name because the leaves resemble the stinging nettle leaves, but because it doesn’t have a sting it’s “dead”. This little plant isn’t a nettle at all. It’s actually part of the mint family. The plant has heart shaped leaves that grow opposite each other on a square stem. The clusters of leaves are further apart at the base of the stem and get closer together as you move towards the top of the plant. The top leaves of the plant are a deep purple in hue. Purple flowers grow in whorls around the top cluster of leaves. Each flower is actually a grouping of 5 petals that connects together at the base. The plant has a fuzzy texture that gets more pronounced the older the plant is. Purple dead nettle is sometimes confused with Henbit, but that’s ok, because it’s another edible plant in the mint family.
Purple dead nettle grows EVERYWHERE which means it’s easy to find an abundance. It grows in ditches, in large crop fields before they have been planted for the season, along the edges of the forest, in your lawns + garden. Dead nettle like disturbed land, and can thrive in full sun or in the shade. It does love moist soil though, but I’ve seen it survive some pretty crazy droughts. I love the fact that this plant is so easy to find no matter where you look, just make sure you’re only harvesting from areas that are safe to consume plant materials from.
Purple dead nettle edible! While it has a very green and almost bitter taste, and the fuzzy leaves are a little weird on the tongue, dead nettle is the perfect way to incorporate Spring greens into your diet. Harvest this little “weed”, dry it and use it to make a yummy spring tea. It’s also good chopped in spring salads, pestos and my person favorite, dead nettle + spinach fritters! It’s also yummy in smoothies if you want to create your own spring green machine 😉
While it may not be your new favorite culinary ingredient, it’s definitely deserves a place in your natural medicine cabinet. This little plant is also a medicinal ally. With antihistamine, anti-inflammatory and astringent properties this little garden weed packs a big punch. Tincture dead nettle and use it to combat spring allergies, or infuse it into oil and make yourself an anti-inflammatory healing salve. It is something helpful to have on hand in case of bug bites or stings while foraging. Wild plant medicine is always close at hand when you need it.
There are so many things to love about this little weed, and I think it definitely needs to be on your list of plants to forage, and while it grows in abundance always remember to only take what you need, this little plant is actually more important to the native pollinator than dandelions. This is truly the first nectar that bees taste after a long winter, so make sure you’re leaving enough to keep the bees fed and happy!
Once you begin harvesting dead nettle, you’ll begin to see it everywhere, and then it will lead to how many other plants you can find. Free food is all around us! We just gotta know what to look for! Foraging is so much a part of our food security, and I hope this ignites something in you to go forth and forage!
