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White deadnettle

 

 

In flowering the white deadnettle, with leaves reminding of a stinging nettle, reveals its pedigree in the mint family (Lamiaceae).

 

The white deadnettle overwinters partly as a green plant, and in sunny, warm habitats the first white flowers in the leaf axils opened already a couple of weeks ago. The flowering period of the plant lasts for a long time because on the young shoots flowers open until autumn. 

It grows readily near human settlements but also in vegetable fields and on waste land. The perennial herb reproduces by its rhizomes, forming quite large stands where possible. Where the white deadnettle has arrived, there it will stay.

 

The shining white flowers are pretty, with an interesting long lower “lip”. It is a good honey and pollen plant for bees. The white deadnettle was held to be a valuable medical herb once when it was brought from somewhere in western Asian mountains to the herb gardens of European monasteries during the era of the Roman Empire. Today no healing properties have been found in the plant but the young leaves are quite edible – in a nice, unpolluted environment they are worth tasting.