Chestnut Herbal School
Last updated on June 9th, 2023

Purple Dead Nettle (Lamium purpureum)

Written and Photographed by Juliet Blankespoor

Purple dead nettle (Lamium purpureum)

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Yesterday we had a wild greens salad with dead nettles as one of the primary ingredients, thanks to one of my enterprising apprentices. Dead nettles  (Lamium purpureum, Lamiaceae) is one of the first plants to flower in the southeast; sometimes even in January. Native to Eurasia, it has taken quite nicely to our fields, farms, cities, and lawns; next it will want our jobs and then destroy our way of life. The leaves and flowers can be eaten sparingly in salads or as a garnish, or cooked in soups, stir-fries etc. It’s quite pubescent (obtusely worded for hairy) so I like to mix it with other greens or cook it to mask its texture. Plants make hairs for many reasons, one of the primary ones being to deter herbivory. It works on me, and many other fellow two-legged mammals. This is a nibble plant anyhow, and not your primary potherb kind of wild green. Can you imagine cooking up a mess of peppermint? Once it starts going to seed, the calyx gets a little pokey and the salads get a little chokey.

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Field of purple dead nettle

Field of purple dead nettle

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Because it is often flowering in early spring when my classes are beginning, it often finds itself as an unsuspecting mint family dissection/nibble example. This is how I happened upon the surprising discovery that ants disperse the dead nettle seeds.  Many of our native spring flowering plants have evolved with ants in an interesting seed dispersal relationship. Trillium, bloodroot, dutchman’s breeches, trout lily, wild ginger, squirrel corn are a few examples. These plants have an extra appendage on their seed called an elaiosome; it often appears as a white or translucent blob or little Mohawk. The elaiosome is a rich nutritious treat for the ant, who gladly gathers the seed, and being a social creature, takes its booty home to share with the sweet little larvae.

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Purple dead nettle seeds with elaiosomes

Purple dead nettle seeds with elaiosomes

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After the ants eat the elaiosome, they discard the seed in their trash heap, which is no Miami dump mind you. It is a nutrient-rich, well aerated, and loose-soiled plant haven. My, to germinate in an ant midden says the seed (to no one in particular). I say get out there and crawl around with some purple dead nettle and watch those ants doing their thing this spring and enjoy some good old fashioned herbivory at the same time.

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Purple dead nettle in my neighbors lawn

Purple dead nettle in my neighbors’ lawn

Meet The Green Mastermind Behind Blog Castanea:

Juliet Blankespoor

JULIET BLANKESPOOR is the founder, primary instructor, and Creative Director of the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, an online school serving thousands of students from around the globe. She's a professional plant-human matchmaker and bonafide plant geek, with a degree in botany and over 30 years of experience teaching and writing about herbalism, medicine making, and organic herb cultivation. Juliet’s lifelong captivation with medicinal weeds and herb gardening has birthed many botanical enterprises over the decades, including an herbal nursery and a farm-to-apothecary herbal products business. 

These days, she channels her botanical obsession through her writing and photography in her online programs, on her personal blog Castanea, and in her new book, The Healing Garden: Cultivating and Handcrafting Herbal Remedies. Juliet and her family reside in a home overrun with houseplants and books in Asheville, North Carolina.

Interested in becoming a contributor?

 

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Learn more about cultivation, identification, and uses for medicinal herbs in our 1,000-hour Herbal Immersion Program, which is the most comprehensive handcrafted online herbal course out there.

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51 thoughts on “Purple Dead Nettle”

    • Sarah Sorci says:

      Since purple dead nettle is more of a wild food than a medicinal herb, I haven’t encountered research on herb-drug interactions for this species. Here’s a note from the American Herbal Products Association’s Botanical Safety Handbook on a related species, Lamium album: “No clinical trials of drug or supplement interactions were identified.” They didn’t have a listing for L. purpureum.

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  4. Flora says:

    Are Purple Dead Nettles toxic to dogs? We lost our Rocky last year after a long illness that started with loss of appetite. His vet treated him for two months with no real diagnosis. Belle is showing mild symptoms of the same. (she will be seeing her vet asap!) Both are medium size Pit Bulls who have enjoyed good health and regular vet visits. The large dog pen has an abundant amount of the nettle. It is being dug as we “speak”. Thank you

    • Sara Kinney says:

      I’m not well-versed in herbal care for animals, but there are no reports of any toxicity in purple dead nettle, either for animals or people. It’s only called “dead” nettle because it looks somewhat like stinging nettles, but leaves don’t sting, so they’re called dead nettle instead of stinging nettle.

  5. Patricia says:

    I’ve heard that Lamium can be used to help dogs with stress issues relax. Have you heard anything about this? I wondering if I have the right Lamium as there are several varieties.

    • Christine Borosh says:

      I’m not familiar with that use for purple dead nettle. Good luck finding out more information about this! We use purple dead nettle as a wild edible, but not as a medicinal plant.

      • Marla says:

        I’m curious why you don’t use it as a medicinal plant? Purple dead nettle is known in the herbal world as being astringent, diuretic, diaphoretic and purgative. It’s also anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal. The leaves can be used on external wounds or cuts, or as a poultice, similar to how you would use yarrow or plantain. I have used in in herbal salve. It is a wonderful ally.

        • Christine Borosh says:

          Thank you so much for sharing your experience with purple dead nettle with us! I know that in Europe it has been used medicinally, but I haven’t worked with it in that way yet. There are just so many different plants to explore and we will each be drawn to work with some more than others.

          • Christine Borosh says:

            I’m not sure! I’ve never heard of purple dead nettle wine before, but there are a lot of creative folks out there. So, it certainly could be possible!

          • Sara Kinney says:

            Yes, it’s fine for them to nibble a leaf or a flower. Just be sure to pluck the flower from the calyx, the receptacle that’s holding the petals, as it’s a bit pokey.

  7. Nick says:

    I absolutely love your writing style! I’ve been seeing this plant crop up for years and as I grow all my food garden with a mind to pollinators, I’ve been leaving these beauties alone (unless they are choking out my food plants). I’m glad to learn they are useful for myself and the pollinators! Thanks for assisting my garden know-how!

  8. Heather Davis says:

    First of all- how is it no one mentions your insanely funny humor?’😂😂 I’m reading this article and cracking up!

    Just read your article as I was foraging for chickweed and my hands were all itchy and red from-dead nettle! It’s a new herb to me!
    Glad to know it’s edible, will be trying it later today.
    Blessings from Knoxville, TN

    • Christine Borosh says:

      Isn’t Juliet’s humor the best? Information about plants doesn’t have to be so serious!

      It sounds like you might have found stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) if the plant stung you and irritated your skin. Purple dead nettle (Lamium purpureum) has soft and fuzzy leaves, although the calyx can get pokey as the plants mature! Even though these plants both have “nettle” in their common name, they are completely unrelated and in different plant families.

      Have fun foraging for these delicious wild edibles!

      • Heather Davis says:

        Thank you Christine for writing! I read up a lot about purple dead versus stinging nettle and saw where they weren’t related at all and how PDN doesn’t sting. But something sure irritated the snot out of my right hand so now I’m going back to check it out again. From all sources I’ve seen that IDs these plants, I do have PDN but hmmmm…. where’s that itchiness coming from?😊

    • Dee says:

      aha. and the last thing I read on purple dead nettle was that it wouldn’t make you itch. bull crap. lol. sorry. but yes it does. maybe not as bad as nettle or maybe I am just sensitive. boohoo…lol. really though, its not like its swollen or oozing or anything, just a little irritation. glad you wrote about that Heather!! and also I loved reading the article on this too. such an easy read w/humor and education. love it.

      • Sara Kinney says:

        Itchiness isn’t a common reaction to purple dead nettle, but if you’re sure you’ve identified it correctly, maybe you have a unique sensitivity to this particular plant!

        • Heather Davis says:

          This has been a great discussion and source of info!
          No redness or irritation after harvesting PDN last night but I was more careful. I’ll watch this though as I get itchy/red with certain animal/cat hairs touching my skin, maybe I AM sensitive to it.

    • melda says:

      maybe it is a personal reaction that others do not experience… I also read an article about an experiment where people allergic to certain flowers were taken into a room with a vase full of those flowers. almost all showed allergic reactions. In reality those flowers people saw in the room were plastic! Our thoughts, feelings trigger our biological system it seems 🙂

  9. Pj says:

    I cook and use dead nettle as you all have said forever and it’s great made with dandelion pick fresh boiled set for few hours then boil again strain and add honey as sweet tea it a great tea before super or bed too much to add for other good health reasons to drink but do try great digestive tea mixture

  10. Martha says:

    Thank you for this post! I’ve been looking for something about purple dead nettle just this week, since there are many of these, chickweed, cleavers, and violets in my South Carolina yard right now. I’d love for there to more herbal uses, but spring nutrients are just fine!

  11. Shanel Taylor says:

    So I looked online and found nothing so coming to you.. Have you ever heard of any benefits to using Purple dead Nettle in a healing salve? Either by itself or combined with other helpful herbs? I have this growing wild on my property, and have bees so have a ongoing supply of beeswax and I love making healing salves and wondered if this would be a good addition. Maybe infusing in olive oil? Anyone have any knowledge on this?

    • Juliet Blankespoor says:

      Hi Shanel! I personally don’t use purple dead nettle medicinally, but it has been used in Europe to stop bleeding—the bruised leaves are applied topically to stanch wounds. It has also been used as a diaphoretic. I don’t know of any tradition of using it as a salve, but I’m sure your bees are quite happy to have this plant around -it’s very popular with the pollinators!

      • Mary Jo Johnson says:

        I actually was bit by a dog last year this time and all that was growing outside was dead nettle. I used it in a poultice with some other herbs and activated charcoal and never needed to see the doctor. It healed very nicely.

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  13. Sheryl says:

    Loved learning about Purple Deadnettle or Purple Dead Nettle (which is correct?), currently growing prolifically in my backyard in No. Delaware. Should the leaves be eaten by someone allergic to Stinging Nettles? Are the flowers edible, too?

    • Sara Kinney says:

      Hi Sheryl, glad you enjoyed the post! Yes, the flowers are edible. You may just want to pull the flower from its slightly scratchy calyx (base) before eating. Despite the similar common name, stinging nettles (Urtica dioica) and (Lamium purpureum) are completely unrelated, and therefore have different medicinal and edible profiles.

  14. Ree M says:

    We all have to discover the magic of the “mints” for ourselves as they seem to benefit everyone on an individual basis. Culpeper called her Archangel which is really a more appropriate name. She announces the return of Spring.

  15. Karen says:

    Juliet,
    Ah, dead nettle… a poorly named beautiful flower. My favorite from childhood.
    Can you tell me more about why they shouldn’t be eaten in large quantites? I’ve always picked a mess of them 3 or 4 times in a spring to steam, and generally mix them with collards or kale to mask the texture. Is that too much? What are the risks? Thanks for this!

    • Juliet Blankespoor says:

      Karen,

      It is an unfortunate name, indeed and a beautiful flower — agreed! Great question about not eating them in large quantities. I have never seen anything about toxicity, but it is my intuitive sense that they shouldn’t be eaten in great quantities — kind of like how we eat basil ( mint family relative). It seems like the way you eat them is perfectly fine….
      Warmly,
      Juliet

      • Karen says:

        Great! Thanks for your quick reply!
        I’m pleased to hear that, ’cause my body just likes them. I get so excited when the wild edibles start popping back up, and into my family’s diet.

  16. Ree M says:

    Oh how it makes my heart sing to see someone writing about Purple Dead Nettle! Most people have never heard of it or do not consider it a medicinal Herb! I live in Piedmont NC and it is one of the first Herbs I found when beginning my Herbal Green Life. You can use the whole plant, or just blooms or just leaves = place in a small jar (fresh of course) and cover with Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, cover with a plastic lid. It is ready to use as soon as the next day (remember it grows stronger everyday). It is a super anti-allergen. So every morning after breakfast I eat 1 – 2 tablespoons of Garlic Honey, followed by a teaspoon of infused vinegar. My vinegars are whatever is fresh at the moment. In very early Spring it is Purple Dead Nettle Vinegar, followed a little later by Dandelion Root Vinegar, then comes Violet, then Yarrow Vinegar – all made in small batches from very young plants, so when you finish it, it is time to move on to the next Seasonal delight. No cold/flu, no illness at all since I started doing this.

  17. coleen s. says:

    Juliet, can you tell me if you have ever used or heard of using Lamium purpureum similar to the sue as Lamium album? Isla Burgess can’t seem to say enough about white dead nettle for a female herb, but I cannot find the seeds here in the US to grow it, but we have lots of Lamium purpureum here in Michigan. Thanks for your help on this.

    • Juliet Blankespoor says:

      Coleen,
      I believe some American herbalists, trained in England, feel they are similar but I don’t have any personal experience using either species medicinally.
      Sorry I couldn’t be of more help…
      Juliet

      • Michal says:

        Hi Carla,I do not have that much purple nettle in my neighbourhood. I would need to grow them. so I would welcome some seeds if you still have any.

        • Carol Crabtree says:

          I have fresh plants all over. I could send you the plants and you could replant. They crawl so they remind me of strawberries. I’m fairly sure I could get them up by the root with the dirt and put in a zip lock and a box to make the trip. Shipping would probably be 5-8 dollars, I’m guessing. No charge for my time or the plants, just the actually shipping cost is all I would ask.

          • Michal says:

            I appreciate a lot your kind reply, so nice of you. But I must decline your generous and gentle offer, I found them eventually elsewhere, those little hiding beasts.
            I welcome any medicinal instruction what to use this plant for, nevertheless. Any idea, Carol?

        • Carol Crabtree says:

          Hi Michal, Glad you found them! I only have the same knowledge that can be accessed on the internet. I wouldn’t want to share it as I haven’t personally had the opportunity to require it’s uses, and I wouldn’t want to disseminate misinformation in case what I’ve read is incorrect. It’s the web after all. 🙂 Good luck, Carol

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