Talk:Nettle

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This entry should really only treat the genus Urtica with references to the Nettle family Urticaceae and to other unrelated groups often called nettles. The material here at present should go back into the family entry, which should not be a redirect. I should be able to get to this in the next few days. WormRunner 07:14, 18 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Basic change done WormRunner 06:49, 19 Nov 2003 (UTC)

I've replaced "Some cooks throw away a first water to get rid of the formic acid" with "Some cooks throw away a first water to get rid of the stinging compounds", as nettles don't infact use formic acid for their sting. see Stinging nettle--212.183.134.130 15:12, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

Nettles a source of protein? My ass! --Publunch 22:24, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Someone please verify the medical section. It contains some suspicious claims -- specifically, that nettles can be used as suppositories or to treat thrush. These both sound like practical jokes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.232.212.141 (talk) 04:38, April 26, 2007

[edit] a small change

Under 'Safety' I've changed 'infected' to 'affected'. The stung area is affected and not infected. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Popytrewq (talk • contribs) 17:56, June 8, 2007

[edit] Contradiction

Does grabbing nettles quickly and firmly to crush the stingers work on not? The nettles (folklore) says it's a myth and neither article cites a source for the contradictory claims. -- Gordon Ecker 04:30, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

It's most likely possible to grasp a nettle without being stung if someone has very tough skin on their hands, but this means nothing if it can't be verified. I've searched around a little, and can't find anything to substantiate this as anything but folklore. And if that's the case, the section on it in nettles (folklore) should probably be expanded? Menthaxpiperita (talk) 05:00, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

The stingers are positioned so that one can grab the nettle from the bottom upwards without getting stung. If you just grab it without the upward motion you are going to get stung. I used to do it when i was younger. --82.181.230.17 (talk) 21:29, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

I was taught to pick individual leaves by "pinching" the up-side of the leaf since there are fewer stinging hairs there. However, when I showed my wife how to do this, she got stung. We attribute this to the fact that I have thicker calluses than her; perhaps this is the reason that people with more experience picking nettles are able to do so without getting stung. Nettles should be fully grown in my area in a a few months; I'll try to remember to test this. 71.37.25.28 (talk) 21:00, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Please remember that original research is not considered an acceptable source of information on Wikipedia. We need a link to a reliable source to back up this claim.
Also, I have added a 'citation needed' tag for this claim in the article. (Is there a reason that there wasn't one already there?) Menthaxpiperita (talk) 06:30, 24 April 2008 (UTC)