Boehmeria cylindrica

(G.R. Boehmer was an 18^th Century German physician and expert on everything. Cylindrica refers to the cylindric flower clusters.)

Urticaceae, the Nettle Family

Across eastern North America and beyond, including all over Florida, there grows a shy wildflower capable of subtle beauty at its best moments.  In flower presently, False-Nettle resembles the stinging nettles familiar to itchy victims with more-northern roots, and is related, but False-Nettle gives you no pain.    (We do have some stinging nettles around here, but scarce.)  The favored habitats are low, partially shaded, soggy shoes kinda places.   The scentless nectar-free flowers with males and females on separate plants are reportedly wind-pollinated.    Some plants have one big deal to feature, and others, like this, have a collection of little deals.

Little Deal #1.  The Red Admiral Butterfly is a rare treat in my experience, and requires members of the Nettle Family as larval hosts.   That is interesting, because nettles have tiny crystals called cystoliths embedded in their leaf tissues.   Nobody knows for sure why cystoliths exist, and there are multiple possibilities, but the most-obvious notion is to prevent insects from devouring leaves.   That being so, a caterpillar able to cope with cystoliths would have a monopoly on the foliage of the cystolith-defended plant.   Cystoliths are mostly calcium, as are kidneystones, which likewise are called cystoliths.  Botanist Bob Wise in Wisconsin is the world’s authority on cystoliths, in plants, not in the bladder.  He generously e-mailed this photo of Boehmeria cylindrica cystoliths:

Little Deal #2.  Another name for today’s species is Bog-Hemp.  Hemp? Boehmeria has long strong fibers valued by Indigenous People long ago for cord, nets, and bowstrings, and valued a little it seems by modern hobbyist weavers who favor natural products.    No huge surprise, really, because the commercial Ramie cultivated for thousands of years for its strong pliable fibers is Boehmeria nivea.    It looks much like its American cousin but with the leaves white beneath. They used to grow it commercially in Florida pre-nylon, and a few diehard survivors still grow untended around the state.  And it’s not just fibers.  Anybody like glutinous rice cakes?  In Asia, a sticky gel from Ramie, a byproduct of the fiber industry,  helps glue the glutinous rice.   Using the gel as a substitute for the agar gel to culture bacteria in labs has been suggested.

Little Deal #3.  Generally, I regard the vast literature on bioactive plant chemicals as a mostly boring haystack hiding a few exciting needles.   Boehmeria cylindrica might (might) be one of those needles.  It yields an alkaloid called cryptopleurine, which has been popping up as medicinally interesting since at least the 70s. 

Given the present need for antivirals, let’s give cryptopleurine a fast nod.   Here is why it keeps generating journal articles.  In a general sense, the alkaloid is “cytotoxic,” that is, it kills cells or prevents their growth and division.  Harnessed, separated from side-effects,  and targeted, as if that is easy(!), such compounds are potential weapons against bacteria, cancers, parasites, and viruses.   Not that it has crossed the line to superhero status, but other plant alkaloids have, and well, you never know.