Lamium album L., White Dead-nettle
Account Summary
Introduction, archaeophyte, very rare. Eurasian boreo-temperate, but widely naturalised, including in N America.
1953; MCM & D; roadside waste ground, Rosslea.
April to October.
Growth form and preferred habitats
An erect or sometimes sprawling, perennial, wintergreen weed, up to 60 cm tall, with a creeping rhizome (or occasionally surface-running and therefore stoloniferous), L. album is most commonly found forming loose, clonal patches on shaded, lowland roadsides, laneways, hedgerows, waste ground and on soil heaps where the competitive vigour of taller, more potentially dominant species (such as Urtica dioica, Common Nettle) is curtailed by occasional, moderate disturbance, usually involving mowing and/or hedge trimming. It prefers fertile, well-drained, lightly-shaded sites with moderately acidic to basic soils no lower than pH 4.5 and most frequently pH >7.0. The established strategy of L. album is categorised as CR, Competitive-Ruderal (Grime et al. 1988, 2007).
Flowering reproduction
L. album has a very long flowering period that begins in early summer and runs through to December. The main flush is in May and June when the large, white (or really, white faintly tinged with green), two-lipped flowers in distant whorls, each consisting of 3-10, bisexual blossoms, make the species most conspicuous and very recognisable. Later in the growing season, the species generally becomes overtopped and obscured by taller-growing accompanying species. The individual flowers have a green, tubular-campanulate calyx, 9-20 mm long and a corolla 20-25 mm, cylindrical at the base for a short distance, but then suddenly enlarged as if swollen. The upper lip of the corolla is arched and there is an oblique ring of hairs in the corolla tube that prevents unwanted guests obtaining the nectar (Sell & Murrell 2009).
The flowers are pollinated by long-tongued insects, mainly bumble-bees, and the four brownish fruit nutlets (or achenes) produced by each flower are trigonous and have a rough surface. When the flower fades, the green calyx persists and protects the tiny developing fruit nutlets. The calyx becomes somewhat stiffened as it ages and when the nutlets are ripe and ready for release, any pressure exerted upon the calyx forces it back. When the pressure is removed, the nutlets are shot out with some force (Grieve 1931).
An average-sized plant can produce around 2,400 nutlets, each with an attached elaiosome oil-body that attracts ants that help to locally transport and disperse them. As in the case of Viola species, the ant activity is thought to help the plant species avoid the worst effects of seed predation (Salisbury 1964). The survey of soil seed banks in NW Europe contains nine estimates for L. album, three of which regard its survival as long-term persistent (at least five years) (Thompson et al. 1997).
Species status and occurrence in Britain and Ireland
Until the publication of the BSBI New Altas in 2002 recognised this species as an archaeophyte, White Dead-nettle was considered native in 82% of the VCs in Britain, where the distribution thins markedly towards the north and west of the island (Grime et al. 1988, 2007; Preston et al. 2002). While this species is regarded by most botanical authorities as an introduction in Ireland (Cen Cat Fl Ir 2), two recent Floras covering the NE of Ireland have listed White Dead-nettle as native without discussion (FNEI 3; Urban Flora of Belfast).
In her 2002 book, Cat Alien Pl Ir, Reynolds described L. album as being, "locally frequent, mainly in the E and NE; established near ruins and houses, in hedgerows, on roadsides and waste ground". This summarises the situation well, except to add that in Fermanagh it usually occurs near habitation and it has been found growing on recently transported soil. Reynolds lists 28 of the 40 Irish VCs where it has been found (often only rarely). The exceptions are mainly arranged along the W coast, although it has been recorded several times in N Kerry (H2) and in Clare (H9).
In the Flora of the Burren and Connemara, Webb & Scannell (1983) listed L. album as present in some abundance around Ballyvaughan harbour in 1967, and they remarked, "This species is well naturalised in the counties N & NW of Dublin, but it is rare elsewhere in Ireland." This prognosis is supported by the authors of the Flora of County Dublin (Doogue et al. 1998), who found L. album, "locally abundant in some parts of the north of the county", and who also commented that, "it can be very persistent as a garden weed". There are suggestions that the plant was previously used for food (especially in Sweden) and in herbal medicine (although there are few records of this in B & I and its use never seems to have been popular), but it might have been cultivated for these reasons (see below for uses) (Grigson 1955, 1987; Allen & Hatfield 2004).
Fermanagh occurrence

There are only five Fermanagh records (the VC is not included in Cat Alien Pl Ir), and the current author (RSF) and RHN both regard L. album as a rare species in the VC. In addition to the first record listed above, the others, all discovered by RHN, are: Topped Mountain (also known as Mullyknock Mt), 5 km ENE of Enniskillen, July 1987; Lisnaskea, 24 May 1990; Killypaddy, 1 km W of Lisnaskea, 27 April 1991; and in loose transported earth at Tempo Road, Enniskillen, October 1991.
European and world occurrence
L. album is now widely distributed in the northern hemisphere. Its geographical origin is uncertain, but Hultén & Fries (1986) speculate that this weedy species may have originated in the mountains of E Europe and W Asia. The map provided by Hultén & Fries (1986, Map 1589) shows the species widespread in boreo-temperate Europe and Asia from Iceland to S Italy and Turkey, although it becomes rare towards the Mediterranean basin, and is absent from all the islands including the Azores, Canary Isles and Madeira. It has been introduced to N America. A separate form, subsp. barbatum (Sieb. & Zucc.) Mennema is widespread in E Asia (Hultén & Fries 1986).
Uses
The active medicinal ingredients of L. album are listed as mucilage, tannin, tyramine, methylamine, choline and traces of fatty oils, saponin and flavone-glycosides (Launert 1981). The effects are astringent and diuretic. White Dead-nettle has been put to herbal medicinal use in a curious diversity of ailments across B & I in past years. It was used to treat skin complaints in Norfolk and NW Ireland, where it was mixed with mutton suet to create an ointment for eczema. It other regions it was recommended for treating arthritis and sciatica, or as a 'Woundwort' for treating bleeding and deep flesh cuts. It was also used for the treatment of sore feet and even for toothache (Allen & Hatfield 2004).
In homoeopathy, an essence is used to treat kidney and bladder complaints. In the home, a similar aquatic herbal extract is used internally for catarrhs and, externally, for bathing burns and septic cuts (Launert 1981).
Young shoots and leaves, collected in March and April, can be used in salads or mixed with spinach or other leaf vegetables. The young leaves can also be added to soups and sauces (Launert 1981).
Names
The genus name 'Lamium' is from the Greek 'laminos' meaning 'throat' or 'gullet', a reference to the corolla tube (Johnson & Smith 1972; Gledhill 1985).
The Latin specific epithet 'album', 'white', refers to the corolla colour. There are a total of 22 English common names listed by Grigson (1955, 1987). Eight of these contain the word 'nettle' since the leaves are strongly reminiscent of the Common Nettle (Urtica dioica) with which the species often competes. However, L. album has no stinging hairs and therefore is distinguished with names such as 'Blind-nettle', 'Dea-nettle' (or 'Deaf-nettle'), or even 'Dumb-nettle'!
Other names refer to the copious nectar of the flower, such as 'Honey-flower', 'Honey-bee', 'Honey-suckle', 'Suck-bottle', 'Sucky Sue'. One of the most interesting names is 'Adam-and-Eve-in-the-bower', and to appreciate this, it is necessary to turn the flower upside-down and look into the white upper lip of the corolla. There one sees Adam and Eve, the black and gold stamens, lying side-by-side like two human figures against a white sheet background (Grigson 1955, 1987). Vickery (2019) gives a similar number of English common names (although not identical to Grigson's) and their derivations.
Threats
None.