NETTLE FAMILY 



description and adds "they may be found by feeling 

 in the dark," which is very true. These Nettle hairs 

 thickly beset the stout, strong stem on every side. 

 Each hair is set in a cushion of delicate cells, and the 



Stinging Nettle. Urtica dioica 



hair itself is just a long tube with a rounded head 

 thrust a little forward. This tube is filled with an 

 acrid juice and if it is touched so that the rounded 

 head breaks off, the jagged edge pierces the flesh, 

 the juice is injected, and one is stung. As this poison 

 produces a burning and itching pain, it is well to know 

 that diluted alcohol will reheve the distress. An English 

 folk-lore rhyme chants of the Nettle: 



"Tender hearted seize the Nettle and it stings you for your pains, 

 Seize it like a man of mettle and it soft as silk remains." 



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