Lamium purpureum (from Latin ), known as red dead-nettle, purple dead-nettle, or purple archangel, is an annual herbaceous flowering plant in the mint family (Lamiaceae). It is native to Eurasia but can also be found in North America.

Description

Lamium purpureum grows with square stems to , rarely , in height. The leaves have fine hairs, are green at the bottom and shade to purplish at the top; they are long and broad, with a petiole (leaf stalk), and wavy to serrated margins.

The zygomorphic flowers are bright red-purple, with the five petals fused into a corolla tube with a top hood-like lobe, two lower lip lobes and minute fang-like lobes between. This encloses the four stamens and the single style with its forked stigma. The corolla shows a line of hairs near the base of the tube. The seed oil contains 16% of an acid characterized as (−)-octadeca-5,6-trans-16-trienoic acid (trivial name lamenallenic acid). Other unsaturated esters identified by their cleavage products are oleate, linoleate and linolenate.

The plant contains phenylethanoid glycosides named lamiusides A, B, C, D and E. It possesses a flavonol 3-O-glucoside-6″-O-malonyltransferase.

Similar species

It is often found alongside henbit dead-nettle (Lamium amplexicaule), for which it is easily mistaken, because the two species bear not only similar leaves, but also similar bright purple flowers. They can, however, be distinguished from one another by the form of the leaves on their respective flowering stems: those of red dead-nettle are petiolate, while those of henbit dead-nettle are sessile.

It is common in the western and eastern United States, Canada, Ireland, and Britain. It frequently occurs in meadows, forest edges, roadsides and gardens.

Uses

Young plants have edible tops and leaves, which can be used in salads or stir-fried as a spring vegetable. When finely chopped, they can also be added to sauces. The flowers can be crystallized using sugar and egg white.

To this day, herbalists use red dead-nettle in many herbal remedies. One of these is a salve prepared from the plant which can be used topically to soothe irritated, itchy, or sore skin. Studies show a strong antioxidant effect.

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File:Illustration Lamium purpureum0.jpg|1885 illustration

File:Hoja SVG (Lamium purpureum).svg|Leaf detail

File:Red Dead nettle close 700.jpg|Essex, England, <br>United Kingdom

File:Lamium purpureum in the spring2.jpg|Vancouver Island, <br> British Columbia, Canada

File:Red Dead-nettle, Calhoun, Georgia, USA, 26 March 2018.jpg|Calhoun, Georgia

File:Field of red dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum).jpg|Field in Ohio, US

File:Lamium purpureum closeup.jpg|Whatcom County, Washington, April 2022

File:Drying herbs - Lamium purpureum.jpg|Drying red dead-nettle as a medicinal plant in a wicker basket, Poland

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References

Bibliography

  • Jepson Manual Treatment
  • USDA Plants Profile
  • Photo gallery
  • Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland information for Lamium purpureum L.