One of my all-time favorite herbs, stinging nettle has been grown and foraged for food, and used in textiles and medicine, for thousands of years across many parts of the world.
You may be aware that you can harvest and eat the leaves, but did you know the root is also usable?
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It has specific medicinal properties that are unique from those of the other parts of the plant.
What Is Nettle Root?Most gardeners are familiar with stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), an herbaceous perennial known for the infamous stinging hairs that can be found all along its stems and the undersides of its leaves.
Nettle grows and spreads by stolons, which form a network of yellow, lateral, creeping rhizomes.
This structure is vigorous, and it spreads like crazy!
The rhizomes are double-layered, consisting of an upper layer of young runners and a deeper layer of thicker, more fibrous roots.
These robust roots are easy to harvest and store, and they offer a number of medicinal uses.
Uses for Nettle RootStinging nettle root extract is often used in over-the-counter supplements and herbal remedies, particularly those labeled for “men’s health.”
The root extract contains beta-sitosterol, a plant phenol that has been shown to reduce urinary tract complications associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) – the enlargement of the prostate.
A double-blind study conducted by M. R. Safarinejad, from the Department of Urology, Urology Nephrology Research Center at Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, concluded that extract of U. dioica had beneficial effects in the treatment of
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