NETTLE FAMILY URTICACEAE 
WOOD NETTLE 
Laportea canadensis (L.) Gaud. 
The Nettle Family is represented in Illinois by many 
species, but because they bloom inconspicuously only two 
species are mentioned here—one noted not for attractive 
flowers but its stinging hairs. 
The Wood Nettle grows in rich 
woods from New Brunswick to 
Ontario, Minnesota and _ south- 
westward, and blooms from June 
aN to September. It is perennial 
by an underground stem. 
The plant is 1-4 feet tall 
and thickly covered with sting- 
ing hairs. The hairs 
eS BO 5 ££s e 
ct aK 
are sharp enough to 
penetrate clothing, 
and this accomplish- 
ed, the slightly en- 
larged end easily 
breaks off, allowing 
SA 
Ge the irritating acid 
that fills the hollow 
interior to strike the 
skin. Fortunately the 
irritation does not last long. The leaves are thin and may be 
smooth or with some stinging hairs. 
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The flowers are imperfect and the forms are separated, those 
in the lower clusters being staminate and in the upper pistillate. 
Each staminate flower consists of 5 sepals, 5 stamens and a 
rudimentary ovary. The pistillate flower consists of 4 very un- 
equal sepals and a simple pistil with a slender style that remains 
on the akene fruit. 
Hemp, Cannabis sativa L., is a minutely downy plant abundant 
along some watercourses. It is grown in this country for its fibers 
which are used in cordage, and in the Orient it is the source of 
hashish. The stem is 3-10 feet tall and the branches are nearly 
erect. The petioled leaves, opposite or alternate, are palmately 
5-11-divided tothe base. The greenish, axillary flowers are dioecious, 
the staminate panicled and the pistillate spicate. 
74 
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