Red Dead Nettle is a low-growing plant with nectar-rich flowers for bees
Nature on our doorsteps: The Dead Nettle family
Rosaleen Dwyer is the County Heritage Officer at South Dublin County Council – every week she gives us an insight into the natural heritage around us and the beautiful biodiversity of the plants and creatures.
Stinging Nettles sting by delivering a tiny drop of acid under our skin when we brush past and break the little hairs on its leaves.
Plants of the Dead Nettle group, however, do not sting.
Their leaves can indeed be softly hairy to the touch, but these short hairs are not filled with stinging acid, hence the ‘dead nettle’ name.
While both plants can look similar with oval or heart-shaped leaves on stalk which are placed opposite one another on the stem, they are, in fact, unrelated to one another.
The Dead Nettle family includes plants that are in flower now.
The low-growing Red Dead Nettle can be seen flowering along hedges and ditches.
When it grows on poor soils the smaller leaves at the top of the plant can sometimes take on a reddish tint.
The Common Carder Bumblebee is a frequent visitor to White Dead Nettle
Its small nectar-rich pink flowers are welcomed by long-tongued bees in early spring, particularly by the ginger-backed Common Carder bumblebee.
The Latin name for Red Dead Nettle is Lamium purpureum, where ‘Lamium’ originates from the Greek word for gullet.
This describes the shape of the flower which appears stretched from top to bottom, like a wide-open jaw.
Another Dead Nettle in flower now is the White Dead Nettle.
This is a taller, more robust plant than Red Dead Nettle and it also grows along hedges and ditches and in places where soil has been disturbed.
Its larger white flowers occur in whorls around the upper part of the plant’s stem.
The flowers of this plant are also visited by the Common Carder bumblebee, and by the White-tailed bumblebee and the Beautiful Y Moth.
Other moth species like the Tiger Moth and the Angle Shades Moth lay their eggs on its leaves for their caterpillars to feed upon.
The White Dead Nettle has a long history of use in traditional folk medicine, and it was once widely used as an anti-inflammatory and a wound-healing plant.
Because both of these Dead Nettle species are important food sources for bees and moths, they deserve a place in any wildlife garden.
