English common name is nettle herb from mother plant Urtica dioica
Contains derivatives of caffeic acid (caffeoylmalic acid, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid); flavonoids (glycosides of kaempferol, quercetin, isorhamnetin); sterols (β-sitosterol and its 3-O-glucoside); coumarins (scopoletin), and amines (histamine, acetylcholine).
Used to relieve mild joint pain, to increase the volume of urine for flushing the urinary tract as an adjuvant in minor urinary complaints, and externally for seborrheic skin conditions.
The drug is the dried flowering herb. The upper surface of the leaves is dark green or dark gray-green to brownish-green. The underside of the leaves is lighter. Both surfaces have stinging and short covering trichomes (denser near the leaf edge and veins). The blade is strongly wrinkled, ovate or lanceolate, up to 10 cm in length. The margin is coarsely serrated. The net venation is prominent on the underside. The petiole is green or brown-green, longitudinally wrinkled and twisted, also with stinging and covering trichomes.
It is listed in the pharmacopoeia.
In pulverized drug under the microscope we can see:
Fragments of unicellular stinging trichomes (on a multi-row raised base)
Short unicellular pointed covering trichomes
Glandular trichomes with a two-celled head
Cystoliths
The upper epidermis has undulating cell walls, with anomocytic and anisocytic stomata
