You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: Nettle - 7 Health Secrets - Free Foraging
This is the plant you want to look for if you are stung - Plantago major, or broad-leaf plantain. Lance leaf plantain also works. Roll up the leaves to break the cell walls, and wipe the site of the sting.
If you have adhesive tape of any kind, apply that to the site first - the hairs are still in you, you will heal faster if you place the tape over the sting site, and then pull. Out come the hairs!
In Australia we have this plant, the Gympie stinger, also a member of the Urticaceae family. It makes the stinging nettle feel like a gnat bite, there are a few incidences where people have actually killed themselves from the pain when stung in remote locations.
And this is the cure for the Gympie stinger, and also the bull rout, a fish with poisonous spines that lies in river beds. Common bracken fern. The leaves in hot water are good. Or, just the crushed leaves moistened with spit if you're in the bush. The fiddlehead is much more potent, and more juicy, but care should be exercised. After removing the hairs (if possible) dab just a small amount on the site. The fiddlehead juice causes localised inflammation as part of it's healing process, take care to wash your hands after use, especially before you go to the toilet!