#dead nettle

[velvetmasonry]

The Book of the Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker

[velarisnazalis]

super cute black neighbourhood cat feat. purple dead nettles which used to be my favourite plant when i was a kid :) (and might still be)

cutie hehe :3

also a little fun fact about dead nettle (aka Lamium Purpureum): it's called 'dead' nettle because it isn't actual (true) nettle from the Urtica family. it actually belongs to the Lamiaceae family, so it's in closer relation with mints (which are also in the same flowering plant family) than with actual nettles. and therefore it's edible :)

"Leaf Structure of purple dead-nettle highlighting trichomes. Winston-Salem, North Carolina"

"Cross-sectional cut of purple dead-nettle stem featuring trichome structures. Winston-Salem, North Carolina"

look how insanely beautiful they are omg!!!!

Source:

Lamium purpureum - Wikipedia

(the cat pics are mine💜)

[urban-meadow-cryptid]

[buttermilko]

[najia-cooks]

[ID: A piece of toast topped with pesto and chopped walnuts; a sprig of dead-nettle is placed to the side. End ID]

Dead-nettle pesto

Purple dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum)—also known as red dead-nettle, or purple archangel—is a flowering plant in the mint family. It is unrelated to true stinging nettles: it earned its name because its leaves look a bit like those of a true nettle, but it doesn't sting (thus it is "dead").

Dead-nettles are some of the first wild edibles to appear in spring, and they are usually abundant. That makes them a great pick for pesto, saag, and other applications that require a large quantity of greens. Their mild flavor means that the flavor profile of the final dish can be taken in a lot of different directions.

A lot of pesto recipes use the same formula (pine nuts, parmesan, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice) regardless of what green they're using as the base, without considering what will best make that green shine. In my opinion, the sweet, zesty, peppery flavor of basil is better without most of these add-ins. But the herbaciousness—frankly, the grassiness—of dead-nettle is better when rounded off with the tanginess of a cultured vegan cheese, the slight bitterness of walnuts, and a little bit of sweetness from a good balsamic vinegar. This is a tasty, balanced pesto that can be eaten with bread, on pasta, in soups, and more!

Recipe under the cut.

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Ingredients:

80g dead nettle leaves and slender stems

1 clove garlic

2 Tbsp 18-year balsamic vinegar (or balsamic vinegar of moderna + a little date syrup)

1 Tbsp good olive oil

2 Tbsp vegan labna or ricotta (optional)

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Salt, to taste

Black pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. Crush all ingredients in a food processor or blender, or with a mortar and pestle. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Identifying dead-nettle

Dead-nettle, like all plants in the mint family, has square stems. The leaves are cordate (heart-shaped), petiolate (connected to the stem by a stalk), covered in fine hairs, and deeply veined, with wavy to serrated margins (edges).

The leaves are opposite (they form in pairs on either side of the stem) and decussate (each leaf pair is rotated 90 degrees from the last). Looking from the top, you'll see four leaves in columns down the plant. The leaves start out green: as the plant matures and flowers, the leaves at the top take on a purplish hue.

Leaves from above

Top of flowering plant seen from above

Small flowers grow towards the top of the plant. They are pink to purple and zygomorphic (symmetrical along a vertical axis), with two lower lobes, a larger hood on top, and two smaller 'spiked' petals on each side. Flowers have darker spots or streaks.

Close-up of flower

Look-alikes

Red dead-nettle has no real look-alikes, to my mind. Some guides cite henbit as a potential look-alike: but henbit's leaves grow in a collar-like formation around the stem. Either way, henbit is also edible.

Red dead-nettle (left); henbit (right)

[dvoeverie-stitches]

Happy Green Thursday

I foraged my Maundy/Green Thursday greens at Mom’s. I’ll attempt to make a soup with my limited pantry and cooking set up here in the motel for lunch.

This year’s spring greens include: wild lettuce, dandelion, dead nettle, plantain, pussytoes, and violets.

Since I haven’t eaten pussytoes yet (I identified them for the first time Monday) I may set them to the side and nibble on them later. I’m pretty careful the first time I eat a new plant and just nibble a little every other day to make sure I don’t have a reaction. Plus this is more of a starvation green, though I did read some peoples’ opinions that it made a nice tea.

🤞

[hepdenerose]

Sunday, Sunday (Lee Wood, Midgehole and Heptonstall)

A mid-November Sunday walk began on Hangingroyd Close, where residents stood in the middle of the road tutting at recent tree surgery. The Buttress busy with weekenders, an unsuitably attired couple carrying shopping bags confoundedly climbed a dodgy incline the other side of Lee Wood Road. Down the winding lane, mushy fungi invaded felled trunks while scarlet holly berries and flourishing…

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[mothmeadow]

souvenirs from my walk 🪨

dandelion symbolizes transformation, happiness, resilience, and health

dead nettle symbolizes happiness, tenacity, confidence, clear thinking, persistence, and emotional balance

(according to my plant id app)