Re: Mere vegetables - California nettles
- Subject: Re: Mere vegetables - California nettles
- From: T* &* M* R*
- Date: Wed, 16 May 2001 19:42:54 +1200
"Seán A. O'Hara" wrote:
>
> At 06:42 AM 5/15/01 -0700, Carol Joynson wrote:
> >I did a little web search - is Urtica dioica ssp. holosericea the only
> >native subspecies? Or is there something 1. smaller, and 2. less water-loving?
>
> Carol -
>
> Yes, this is the native subspecies, but there is the introduced U. urens as
> well, which is reputed to have better flavor. The former, U. dioica
> holosericea, grows along stream banks or creeks, where ever water is
> present for most of the year, and on rich heavy clay soils.
>
> U. urens grows as a weed in gardens and waste places, is smaller, and may
> be difficult to really tell from the other, but maybe it doesn't matter.
Actually, Sean not difficult to tell the two apart, as A urens is an
annual with quite a small root system, so easily pulled out, while A
dioica is a perennial with not just a root but a very extensive rhizome
system and usually a whole colony of stems which strongly resists being
dislodged.
As you say docks and perennial nettles are often found together mainly I
think because they both really go for any enriched soil, such as an old
veg garden. I remember picking wild blackberries when I was young, while
in England at school, and these were often interleaved with both nettles
and docks, but I cannot remember whether I found the docks any help
against nettle stings.
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata (near Wellington, capital city of New Zealand)
