The common stinging nettle: resource or risk?

Whitney, Philip J.; Gibbs, Gill

The common stinging nettle has been used by man since the Bronze Age for its fibre and was cultivated in Scandinavia and possibly Scotland until the 18th century. In the past few years, funding has been provided from a number of sources to investigate the cultivation and processing of nettle fibre crop production in the UK and other countries. Nettle plants are covered with hairs strengthened with silica, including specialised stinging hairs (trichomes). If these hairs detach during harvesting or processing, could inhalation damage lung cells in a similar way to asbestos fibres, a known carcinogen?

EUROPE; RESPIRATORY allergy; PLANT fibers; STINGING nettle; URTICACEAE; TRICHOMES

Biologist, 2006, Vol 53, Issue 4, p178

0006-3347

Periodical