128 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Common Nettle. 



French, Ortie dioique. German, Zweihdusige Nessel. 



The common name of this plant, familiar to everybody, is said by Dr. Prior " to 

 liave meant primarily that with which one sews ; and it is, indeed, almost identical 

 with needle. Apphed to the plant now called so, it indicates that this supplied the 

 thread used in former times by the Germanic and Scandinavian nations, which we 

 know as a fact to have been the case in Scotland in the seventeenth century. West- 

 macott says, " Scotch cloth is only the housewifery of the nettle." In Friesland also 

 it has been used till a late period. *' Flax and hemp bear southern names, and were 

 introduced into the north to replace it." Everyone knows by experience the pecu- 

 liarity of the nettle — the numerous little hairs which beset its leaves, furnished 

 with conical receptacles at the base, each exuding an acrid fluid, which, when touching 

 the skin, inflicts a sharp pain, and produces often considerable inflammation. From 

 this fact it is called the stinging nettle, to distinguish it from the dead nettles species 

 of Larnium, which somewhat resemble it in leaves and stem. 



The leaves of the nettle when young make a good potherb, and were at one time 

 eaten largely, when green vegetables were less abundant than they now are in our 

 gardens. In Scotland it was the practice to " force the nettles for early spring kail," 

 and we are told the nettles dressed like spinach are excellent eating. By earthing- 

 up, nettles may be blanched in the same way as sea-kale, and eaten in a similar 

 manner. Cattle usually refuse to eat nettles when fresh gathered or growing ; but 

 when dried and made into hay, so as to destroy the poisonous matter of the stings, 

 cows will relish them, and give more milk than when fed on hay alone. The leaves, 

 chopped and mixed with other food, are said to be beneficial to young tiirkeys and 

 other poultry. 



The juice of nettles yields a beautiful and permanent green dye, which is used for 

 woollen stuffs in Russia. The roots, boiled with alum, produce a yellow colour, which 

 dyes yam well, and is also employed to stain eggs yellow preparatory to the feast of 

 Easter by the reHgious of the Greek Church. Not only are nettles esteemed as an 

 article of food, but the plant yields one of the best of vegetable fabrics for textile 

 purposes. Campbell, complaining of the little attention paid to it in England, says : 

 "In Scotland I have eaten nettles, I have slept in nettle-sheets, and I have dined off" a 

 nettle-tablecloth. The young and tender nettle is an excellent potherb. The stalks 

 of the old nettle are as good as flax for making cloth. I have heard my mother say, 

 that she thought nettle-cloth more durable than any other species of linen." The 

 fibre being produced in less quantities than that of flax, and being somewhat difficult 

 to extract, accounts perhaps for the fact that it is but little used in Britain, though in 

 some countries it is still employed. An extraordinary application of nettles is recorded 

 by Goldsmith, who states that " capons may very easily be taught to clutch a fresh 

 brood of chickens throughout the year. The manner of teaching them is this. The 

 capon being made very tame, about evening pluck the feathers of his breast, and rub 

 the bare skin with the nettles ; then put the chickens under him, which presently run 

 under his breast, and rubbing the bare skin gently with their heads, allay the stinging 

 smart which the nettles had produced. This is repeated a few nights, till the capon 

 takes an affection to the chickens that have thus given him relief, and continues to 

 afford them the protection th'ey seek. From that time the capon brings up the 

 chickens -like a hen, performing all the functions of the tenderest parent." Medicin- 

 ally, the juice of the nettle acts as a slight astringent. It was recommended by the 



