Tinkturenpresse

Urtica urens L. - Urticaceae - dwarf nettle, small nettle, dog nettle, annual nettle, Kleine Brennessel

Annual monoecious herb, up to 45cm high, native to the northern hemisphere; densely covered with stinging hairs; leaves broadly elliptic, ovate or obovate, toothed; inflorescences with proximal female and distal male flowers.
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=233501339

The above ground parts of U.urens are used synonym to U.dioica (treatment of rheumatic complaints, inflammation of the urinary tract).
[Medicinal Plants of the World. Ben-Erik Van Wyk and Michael Wink, Pretoria 2004, 332]

„The antinociceptive and antiinflammatory activities of the ethanol extract of the aerial part of Urtica urens were determined by experimental animal models. U. urens extract was found to possess significant antinociceptive activity in chemically induced mouse pain models (ED50 39.3 mg/kg: 17.2–74.5 mg/kg) in the writhing test and 62.8% inhibition of the licking time in the late phase of the formalin test at a dose of 500 mg/kg p.o. and antiinflammatory activity on carrageenan-induced rat hind paw edema (41.5% inhibition at a dose of 300 mg/kg i.p.). The extract displayed activity neither in the thermal model of pain nor in the topical inflammation model. The major component of the extract was determined as chlorogenic acid (670 mg/1000 g dry weight) and could be partly responsible for this activity.“
[Evaluation of antinociceptive, antinflammatory activities and phytochemical analysis of aerial parts of Urtica urens L., Marrassini, C., Acevedo, C., Miño, J., Ferraro, G., Gorzalczany, S., Phytotherapy Research, Vol.24(12), 2010, 1807-1812]

Sturm, J., Krause, E.H.L., Lutz, K.G., Flora von Deutschland in Abbildungen nach der Natur, Zweite auflage, vol.4: t.40 (1905)
http://plantgenera.org/species.php?id_species=1046279

Urtica urens
© Rolf Marschner (2016), www.botanische-spaziergaenge.at