[193] Lamium album, White Deadnettle

[193] Lamium album, White Deadnettle

Lamium purpureum, Red Deadnettle

Introduction

Lamium album and Lamium purpureum are two species of plants that look somewhat like [353] the Stinging Nettle but do not sting.

Lamium album is the White Deadnettle (or Dead-nettle). Lamium purpureum is the Red Deadnettle or Purple Deadnettle.

Taxonomy

Kingdom – Plants

Division – Vascular Plants

Class – Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)

Order – Lamiales

Family – Lamiaceae (Mint, Deadnettle and Sage family)

Genus – Lamium

Scientific Names – Lamium album, Lamium purpureum

Name

Though not related the Deadnettles look like Nettles. They are called dead because they do not sting.

Lamium is the name of this plant in Latin. The Latin purpureum, as for the Old English meaning of ‘red,’ includes shades of red, brown and purple.

White Deadnettle

Lamium album is common and widespread throughout Europe and Asia, found in many habitats including woodland and open grassland. In Britain it is found on roadside verges or wasteland.

Its leaves are soft and hairy with a serrated border and clearly marked veins, all of which make it similar to the Stinging Nettle. if you put the two side-by-side the leaf shape, serrations and veins are identifiably different (as you will discover in December.)

The stems and the white flowers, produced at the top of the stems, are also covered in fine hairs.

Its leaves can be eaten as a salad or cooked.

Purple Deadnettle

Lamium purpureum, with a similar distribution, looks less like nettles. It is a smaller plant with wider, more rounded leaves and less obviously serrated edges. The flowers are light purple and the upper leaves just below the flowers are a much dark purple.

Other Notes

Both of these are common weeds I see everywhere.

Lamium purpureum is slightly reminiscent of a loosely related planted that appears as a garden weed.

Self-heal, Prunella vulgaris, shown above, has the unusual distinction of sharing its genus name with a common garden bird, [279] the Dunnock.

See also

These two species are not normally cultivated but another species, Lamium maculatum, is available in varieties as a cultivated garden plant.