'Less Sting' Stinging Nettles

Urtica dioica Origin: Michigan Improvement status: Cultivated wild material Seeds per packet: ~200 Germination tested 11/2024: 98% Life cycle: Perennial Our friend Ken Asmus, the founder of Oikos Tree Crops, found 'Less Sting' stinging nettles growing at his farm in western Michigan. While it still has the typical amount of stinging hairs on its stems and petioles (leaf stalk), the leaves are almost entirely free from them. Ken has long sold clones of this plant (which, like all stinging nettles, spreads easily and rapidly by underground rhizome), and one of his customers was our new grower Michael Billington of Nourishing Roots Farm in Montana. Michael grew this seed, and we're excited to see if spreading it around widely yields new clones that might be even less stinging. But while nettles are notorious for their eponymous sting, those of us who love this plant can easily look past this unfortunate trait. Its capacity to cause pain is just one small facet to this otherwise fascinatin