Purple Deadnettle

As I do with most articles, I’m writing about a very common yet nutrient-packed plant today; the purple deadnettle.

This plant is in the mint family and I have fond memories of picking the flowers and sucking the nectar out of them as a kid!

Let’s take a look.

Plant Profile:

Scientific Name: Lamium purpureum

Preferred Habitat: Disturbed areas, open fields, lawns

Edible Parts: Above-ground parts

Distribution: Most parts of Eastern North America, and much of the West.

Harvest Season: Spring-early summer (as long as the flowers bloom)

Key Identifiers: Small fuzzy leaves arranged oppositely on a square stem, and tiny tubular flowers.

Toxic Look-Alikes: There are no toxic look-alikes of purple deadnettle, but it can look similar to henbit (which is another medicinal relative!) It may also look similar to Creeping Charlie, which is also edible, so there are no dangers with this one!

Nutrition:

I don’t have exact measurements for you, but these nutrients have been found in purple deadnettle:

• Polyphenols (an antioxidant compound)

• Quercetin (good for immune stimulation, anti-inflammatory properties, and helpful against allergies)

• Oil is antimicrobial

• Astringent properties help stop bleeding

• Antihistamine properties

• Styptic properties

• High in vitamins C, A, and K

• High in iron

• High in fiber

It’s always interesting to see how the most common and least impressive-looking plants can be some of the most potent medicines and nutritive foods.

Uses

Purple deadnettle is best taken as a tincture, tea, salve, or eaten like other leafy greens. I have added it to soups for extra nutrition (especially since it doesn’t change the flavor much, so it makes for an easy addition) and eaten it fresh.

Since it has some very potent antimicrobial and antibacterial properties, a salve can be a good use if you plan to treat any topical ailments.

The flowers have a mild sweetness that we loved as kids. In the summer we would pick the little purple flowers out and suck on the thin part to get the nectar out!

In hindsight that was not very smart since we didn’t know what they were, but thankfully I’m still alive to tell the story!

Many of you have probably seen purple deadnettle before and either had not known what it was or have known it by its scientific name: Lamium.

Lamium has many applications in the landscaping industry so you might find a few varieties growing in people’s gardens (I grew up with a yellow deadnettle in my backyard as a kid).

As for the name “dead nettle”, well it isn’t related to nettles at all and doesn’t sting (hence the “dead”). Other than being in the mint family it doesn’t really resemble nettles at all either.

I often find it growing the same places you’d expect to find dandelion, chickweed, henbit, or cleavers.

Pollinators love purple deadnettle despite being a non-native in the Americas, and it is abundant.

There’s a lot to love about this little plant!

Side note: I would love to see some breeding work done on deadnettle to select for either larger leaves, larger flowers, or higher nutrient content.

You can find deadnettle in a few colors (purple, pink, yellow, white, with variegated leaves etc) but as for specific cultivars there isn’t one I’d necessarily recommend over the others.

American Meadows has the widest selection of Lamium plants available that I could see, but local nurseries tend to have some as well if you don’t want to find wild deadnettle!

Thanks for reading! If you like my content, be sure to share The Naturalist, and help us get to our subscriber goal!