looduskalender.ee

White deadnettle

 

 

The white deadnettle wintered with partly green leaves and in sunny locations the first white or creamy flowers opened in the leaf axils already during the early summer “heat wave”. Young shoots that grow during summer will flower even in October.

 

It likes to grow near human settlements, in cultivated fields and on wastelands. The perennial plant reproduces by rhizomes, forming quite large stands where possible. Where the deadnettle has arrived, there it stays.

 

The white deadnettle’s leaves remind a little of those of the stinging nettle but they don’t sting. Our other Lamiums or deadnettles are likewise weeds, low-growing, with reddish flowers, and there are four native species of them in Estonia.

 

The pretty labiate flowers have a long lower lip. It is a good nectar and pollen plant for insects.

 

In the times of the Roman Empire the white deadnettle was brought from the mountains of Western Asia to the herb gardens of European monasteries where it was grown as a medicinal herb. Today’s pharmacists haven’t found any medicinal properties in the plant but the young leaves are quite edible and you can safely taste them.