''Lamium purpureum'' (from Latin ''purpureum'' –
purple), known as red dead-nettle,
purple dead-nettle, or purple archangel, is an annual herbaceous
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...
. It is native to Eurasia but can also be found in North America.
Description
''Lamium purpureum'' grows with square stems to ,
[Parnell, J. and Curtis, T. 2012. ''Webb's An Irish Flora.'' Cork University Press. ] rarely 40 cm, in height.
The
leaves have fine
hairs, are green at the bottom and shade to purplish at the top; they are long and broad, with a 1–2 cm
petiole (leaf stalk), and wavy to serrated margins.
The
zygomorphic
Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts.
Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spir ...
flowers are bright red-purple, with a top hood-like petal, two lower lip petal lobes and minute fang-like lobes between. The
corolla shows a line of hairs near the base of the tube.
They may be produced throughout the year, including mild weather in winter.
Phytochemistry
The essential oil is characterized by its high contents of
germacrene D. The seed oil contains 16% of an acid characterized as (−)-octadeca-5,6-trans-16-trienoic acid (trivial name
lamenallenic acid). Other unsaturated esters identified by their cleavage products are
oleate,
linoleate and
linolenate.
The plant contains
phenylethanoid glycosides named lamiusides A, B, C, D and E. It possesses a flavonol 3-O-glucoside-6″-O-malonyltransferase.
Similar species
It is often found alongside
henbit dead-nettle (''Lamium amplexicaule''), for which it is easily mistaken, because the two species bear not only similar leaves, but also similar bright purple flowers. They can, however, be distinguished from one another by the form of the leaves on their respective flowering stems: those of red dead-nettle are
petiolate, while those of henbit dead-nettle are
sessile.
Though superficially similar to species of ''
Urtica'' (true nettles) in appearance, ''L. purpureum'' is not related to them, the genus ''
Lamium'' belonging to the
mint family, not the
nettle family, the "dead" in the name "dead-nettle" referring to the inability of ''Lamium'' species to sting.
Taxonomy
''Lamium purpureum'' was described and named by
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
in 1753. It is the
type species
In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...
of genus ''Lamium''.
Distribution and habitat
''Lamium purpureum'' is native to Europe and Asia but it can also be found in North America.
It is common in the western and eastern United States, Canada, Ireland, and Britain. It frequently occurs in meadows, forest edges, roadsides and gardens.
Ecology
The year-round flowers allow
bees to gather their
nectar for food when few other nectar sources are available. It is also a prominent source of
pollen
Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...
for bees in March/April (in UK), when bees need the pollen as protein to build up their nest. The pollen is crimson red in colour and thus very noticeable on the heads of the bees that visit its flowers.
Uses
Young plants have edible tops and leaves, used in salads or in stir-fry as a spring vegetable. If finely chopped it can also be used in sauces. The flowers can be crystallized using sugar and
egg white.
The herb has a venerable pedigree in the
folk medicine of England, featuring as it does as one of three medicinal/symbolic plants called for in the Anglo-Saxon herb charm
Wið færstice (meaning 'against a sudden/violent stabbing pain'). The charm in question (dating, according to scholarly consensus, probably from the late ninth century) calls for the three herbs involved (the other two being
feverfew and
plantain) to be heated in butter to prepare an ointment, which is then rubbed on the site of the pain with the blade of a knife, while the lengthy charm is recited by the folk practitioner, who thereby aligns herself (or himself) with the patient – in contradistinction to the evil supernatural beings believed to have caused the pain with their magical arrows.
To this day, herbalists use red dead-nettle in many herbal remedies. One of these is a salve prepared from the plant which can be used
topically to soothe irritated, itchy, or sore skin. Studies show a strong
antioxidant effect.
Gallery
File:Illustration Lamium purpureum0.jpg, 1885 illustration
File:Hoja SVG (Lamium purpureum).svg, Leaf detail
File:Red Dead nettle close 700.jpg, Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
, England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
,
United Kingdom
File:Lamium purpureum in the spring2.jpg, Vancouver Island,
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
, Canada
File:Lamium purpureum (red dead-nettle) in Ohio, United States.jpg, Valley View, Ohio, US
File:Red Dead-nettle, Calhoun, Georgia, USA, 26 March 2018.jpg, Calhoun, Georgia
File:Field of red dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum).jpg, Field in Ohio, US
References
Bibliography
*
External links
*
Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfilePhoto galleryBotanical Society of Britain and Ireland information for ''Lamium purpureum'' L.
{{Use dmy dates, date=December 2024
purpureum
Flora of Europe
Flora of Asia
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus