Nettle Tree, Chichaste, Ortiga
Urera baccifera

Family: Urticaceae

What it is like

Urera baccifera, or commonly known in various names such as Nettle Tree, Chichaste, Ortiga, Scratchbush, and Nigua, is a spiny flowering plant native to America. It grows about 5 m tall. The leaves are thin and toothed. The flowers, pink or purple, are borne in clusters. Male and female flowers are on different plants. The fruits are green or pinkish, spongy, and juicy. Seeds are dispersed by fruit-eating birds and capuchin monkeys. The plant is used to relieve from muscle pain, arthritis, pulled muscles, snakebite, gonorrhea, etc. No plant part is edible. It is also planted as hedge plant. Fibers obtained from branches are used to make ropes, twine, and paper.

Urera baccifera is an evergreen Shrub growing to 4 m (13ft) by 4 m (13ft) at a fast rate. See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 10. Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils and can grow in very acid and very alkaline soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist or wet soil.

Height (m): 4

Where it is found

Common or abundant in wet or dry thickets, often in secondary growth, mostly in the lowlands at elevations up to 850 metres, but occurring also at higher elevations in Guatemala possibly because it was planted.

S. America - Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guyanas; C. America - Panama t

Conservation Status: This taxon has not yet been assessed

Countries/locations it is found in

Brazil, Central America*, Costa Rica, Cuba*, Dominican Republic, Guiana, Guyana, Haiti, Lesser Antilles*, Mexico*, North America, Puerto Rico, South America, Suriname, Venezuela, West Indies*,

How it is used

Food

Rating: 0

Medicine

Rating: 2

An infusion of the fresh leaves is diuretic. The leaves are used in the treatment of muscle pain. A leaf is held by its petiole and the nettles are brushed against the skin. This causes an excruciating pain, gradually replaced over the following days by a numbness!!!. The Waorani also use this plant to relieve tainting and all pain, including that from aching muscles, arthritis, pulled muscles, snakebite, stingray and stings of the conga, a/teea and fire ants. The roots are said in the Colombian Amazon to have antihaemorrhagic properties, and an infusion of the leaves alleviates erysipelas. A decoction of the roots is employed in treating gonorrhea. A decoction of the root is diuretic.

Antiarthritic: Treats arthritis.

Antibacterial: Kills bacteria.

Diuretic: Acts on the kidneys, promoting the flow of urine.

Skin: Plants used in miscellaneous treatments for the skin.

Stings: Used in the treatment of stings and insect bites.

Other

Rating: 4

Agroforestry Uses: When one brushes against a branch or a leaf of this plant, the prickles penetrate the flesh and cause the most excruciating pain. It is needless to explain why the shrub makes such an effective hedge plant, and for this purpose it is widely planted in the Americas. Horses fear it, and few other large animals will attempt to penetrate such hedges, which are far from being things of beauty. Only in the early part of the rainy season, when the new foliage has developed, are the hedges at all presentable. During the height of the dry season they lose their leaves and are unsightly. The plant has been shown to build up to high populations in a fire-disturbed forest in the Atlantic forest in southern Brazil through a high recruitment rate and low mortality. The seeds are disbursed by birds. Other Uses Fibre from the branches has been used for making rope, twine and paper.

Fibre: Used for making cloth, rope, paper etc.

Hedge: Plants that can be grown as hedges.

Paper: Related to the entry for Fibre, these plants have been specifically mentioned for paper making.

String: Plants that can be used for string or can be easily made into a string. See also Fibre. Plants for ropes may be included.

Hedge: Hedge

How it is grown

Widespread throughout the moister American tropics and into the subtropics, this species is generaly not found in areas with a mean annual rainfall of less than 1,600mm, preferring the range 2,000 - 4,000mm. Prefers a sunny position, tolerating some shade but dying out in heavier shade. Tolerates a wide range of soil conditions from acid to calcareous; growing in well-drained to somewhat poorly drained soils of all textures. The plant is considered a weed when growing in shaded coffee plantations; however it has never been found naturalized outside its native range. When stems are cut during site management activities they quickly sprout and regain their former height. Whether sprouting from the rootstalk occurs after senescence and death of individual stems is not known. A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required.

Propagating it: Seed - when sown fesh it can germinate in 26 days or more with around 49% sprouting. Cuttings are easy - even thick branches take root quickly when set in the ground.

Best place to grow:

Habit: Shrub

Hardiness: 10-12

Growth: Fast

Soil: Light (sandy), medium, heavy (clay)

Shade: Semi-shade, no shade

Moisture: Moist, wet

Things to keep in mind

This is one of the best known plants of Guatemala and all Central America, one known and probably physically so, to all Central Americans, for it is one of the most severely stinging plants that exist in the Americas. The large spine-like prickles are hollow and filled with liquid. When one brushes against a branch or a leaf, the prickles penetrate the flesh and cause the most excruciating pain, as sudden as an electric shock, that may last two or three days. The pain gradually disappears, to be followed by numbness in the affected part. It is needless to explain why the shrub makes an effective hedge plant!!!.(Parts of plant are poisonous if ingested)

The plant is considered a weed when growing in shaded coffee plantations; however it has never been found naturalized outside its native range.

Its other names

Local names

Ortiga, Sinalwo, ishanka waska, itapalla grande, orteguilla, ortiga, ortiga brava, ortiga del monte, ortiguilla pino guazú, ortigón, tuntun nara.

Synonyms

Urera armigera (C.Presl) Miq. Urera denticulata Miq. Urera horrida (Kunth) Miq. Urera rugosa Rusby U