DESCRIPTIVE MANUAL 



69 



URTICACEAE, NETTLE FAMILY. 



This family in the large sense contains such economic plants as 

 the fig, india rubber tree, hemp, hop, and such trees as the haekberry 

 and elm. 



Nettle ( Urtica gracilis Ait. ) . 



Description. — A perennial, stinging herb from 2-6 ft. high ; spar- 

 ingly bristly; leaves ovate-lanceolate, sharply serrate, with long 

 petioles, 3-5-nerved sparingly pubescent, petioles usually bristly; 

 flowers inconspicuous, paniculate, dioecious or of staminate and pis- 

 tilate flowers; achene compressed, inclosed by the persistent calyx. 

 Hairs multicellular at base, urticating. 



Fig. 38. Stinging Nettle (Urtica gracilis). Common along fences and in waste 



places, a, stinging hairs of plant. 



(Photographed by Colburn. a drawn by Charlotte M. King.) 



