STINGING NETTLES

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23361, 21 June 1941, Page 2

STINGING NETTLES

£SO A TON FOR BRITAIN’S EXPORT DRIVE

Stinging nettles, the bane of British farmers, are to be converted from a national liability into a source of war funds. During the coming summer, about 100 tons of the common stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) will be required for the production of the green pigment chlorophyll. This is used both medicinally, as a nerve tonic, and for colouring soap and other products. One of the largest firms of manufacturing chemists in Great Britain has installed new plant and will more than double its output of chlorophyll. In pre-war days most of the world’s supply of chlorophyll came .from Germany and Switzerland. The arrangements being made in Britain will not only ensure the home supplies, but will provide a surplus for export to other countries now cut off from normal sources of supply. Collection of the nettles, which have to be dried before they are sent to the factory, where they are worth £3O to £SO a ton, will be carried out by the Women's Institutes of Britain’s countryside and Boy Scout, troops. These organisations are also being asked 'to collect other wild herbs for the distillation of drugs and essential oils.