In 1874, while in Collioure (south of France), French botanist Charles Naudin discovered that a strong wind lasting 24 hours rendered the stinging hairs of nettles harmless for an entire week.

[2] The last common ancestor of the genus originated in Eurasia, with fossils being known from the Miocene of Germany and Russia, subsequently dispersing worldwide.

[3] A large number of species included within the genus in the older literature are now recognised as synonyms of Urtica dioica.

[6] Due to the stinging hairs, Urtica species are rarely eaten by herbivores, but provide shelter for insects such as aphids, butterfly larvae, and moths.

[8] Besides the stinging hairs in general, in New Zealand U. ferox is classified as a poisonous plant, most commonly upon skin contact.

[9] Fabric woven of nettle fiber was found in burial sites in Denmark dating to the Bronze Age, and in clothing fabric, sailcloth, fishing nets, and paper via the process called retting (microbial enzymatic degradation, similar to linen processing).

[10][13] Milarepa, the Tibetan ascetic and saint, was reputed to have survived his decades of solitary meditation by subsisting on nothing but nettles; his hair and skin turned green and he lived to the age of 83.

This belief gave rise to a well-known poem by Aaron Hill: In Hans Christian Andersen's fairy-tale "The Wild Swans," the princess had to weave coats of nettles to break the spell on her brothers.