Hedge Nettle

The Hedge Nettle, also called Great Betony or Cooley's Hedge Nettle (Stachys cooleyae), is a member of the Lamioideae (Mint) family; you can see this by looking closely at the leaves. This native grows up to 3 ft. high and has stylistic purple trumpet flowers. We found these growing in a mostly shady clearing at Noble Woods Park, 6/27/2013.

There are several varieties of Hedge Nettle growing in Oregon, and they all seem to have a history of medicinal/herbal uses. I found several references to using the plant's tea for heartburn, diarrhea, breathing problems, headache, and gout. Wow, who knew?!

The "nettle" part of the name appears to be a misnomer, because the plant is not in the Urtica genus and the plant does not have skin-breaking filaments with toxins.