White Dead Nettle
(Lamium alba)
– from the Greek ‘laimos’ meaning ‘throat’, referring to the shape of the flower.
This jolly and super prolific herb is part of the Mint, or Lamiaceae botanical family which you can see by the square stems and typical flower morphology of the mint family.
History
The famous apocathery herbalist, Nicholas Culpeper 17th century write of the herb
‘makes the head merry, drives away melancholy, quickens the spirits.’
Mrs Grieves 1930s agrees with her and writes about dead nettle
– ‘{dead nettle} make the heart merry, good colour in the face and to make the vital spirits more fresh and lively’.
Dead Nettle
It often grows alongside it’s doppelgänger the stinging nettle, being protected and supported, in this super clever disguise. These two plants are totally unrelated botanically but it is clear that the dead nettle have evolved to benefit from the reputation of nettle thus it is lefted un-eaten chewed and munch by animals expecting to be stung . Only when the flowers come out, does it become really obvious where they differ.
Our favourite of it’s common names is White archangel obviously for the beautiful blooms it sports in the summer months – the herb has been documented to blossom in early May around the time dedicated to the Archangel Michael.
we love the idea that this is an angelic plant with a passion of mimicry and that the plant it mimics can be devilish!
The fresh young leaves can be steamed as a spring vegetable or added into stir frys.
Healing
Archangel has long been associated with youth, purity and joy bringing spirits back into a balance of happiness. On an energetic level works to support people who have experienced sexual trauma, rape, or abortion, traumatic birth and to help bring ‘light’ back into the vision
It has the physical interaction with the body as relaxing, encouraging circulation and boosting the spirits.
As a wonderful anti-spasmodic, astringent, womb tonic and anti-inflammatory, we use this herb as part of a Period Tea – Lush for Ladies –
more on that here in this blog about period pains LINK
This herb is where fairies go to sleep and you’ll be able to see their slippers placed neatly on the underside of the flowers if you turn them over.
if you are interested in a scientific article about this plants constituents and medicinal applications check out this link
