APETALZE 177 
sneezings, and with a copious running at the nose. 
About noon I experienced a painful contraction at 
the back of the jaws, which made me fear an attack 
of tetanus. I went to bed, hoping that repose would 
alleviate my suffering, but it did not abate; on the 
contrary, it continued nearly the whole of the follow- 
ing night; but I lost the contraction of the jaws 
about seven in the evening. The next day the pain 
left me. I continued to suffer for two days, and the 
pain returned when I put my hand into water; and I 
did not finally lose it for nine days.” 
When boiled, nettles do not retain their stinging 
properties, and are in fact used as a salad. 
In Urtica the leaves are opposite; in Pellitory 
they are alternate. The stem is square, furrowed, 
erect or decumbent at the base, with rooting stolons, 
with stipules. The flowers are in a cyme, and uni- 
sexual, very small and green. The calyx consists of 
four to five segments, and is concave, free or united. 
The stamens are of the same number, bent down in 
bud, and when ripe they explode. The fruit is an 
achene, hard and dry, one-seeded. The flowers are 
pollinated by the agency of the wind. 
LITTLE NETTLE (Urtica urens). 
Perhaps because the stinging properties of the 
Little Nettle are even greater than those of the 
larger and more common one, it has received in 
Latin the redundant second name of Urens, burning. 
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