Chap. 55.] THE SETTLE. 351 



plants, again, that are prickly have leaves as well, such as the 

 thistle, for instance, the erynge, 47 the glycyrriza, 48 and the 

 nettle ; 49 all these plants being provided with leaves that prick 

 or sting. 



Some plants have thorns at the base of their leaves, the 

 tribulus 59 and the anonis 51 for instance ; others, again, have 

 thorns, not on the leaves but on the stem, the pheos 52 for ex- 

 ample, known as the stoebe to some. The hippophaes 63 has 

 thorns at the joints ; the tribulus presents the peculiarity of 

 bearing a fruit that is thorny. 



CHAP. 55. FOUR VARIETIES OF TOE NETTLE. THE LAMIUM 

 AND THE SCORPIO. 



But of all these plants, it is the nettle that is the best 

 known to us, the calyces 54 of the blossoms of which produce a 

 purple down : it frequently exceeds two cubits even in 

 height. 55 There are numerous varieties of this plant; the 

 wild nettle, known also as the female nettle, does not inflict 

 so bad a sting as the others. Among the several varieties of 

 the wild nettle, the one known us the dog^-nettle, stings the 



* 7 See B. xxii. c. 8. 



48 See B. xxii. c. 11. The " sweet- root ;" our liquorice. The Gly- 

 cyrrhiza echinata of Linnaeus bears a prickly fruit; it is of this, Fee 

 thinks, that Pliny speaks here. 



49 Fee remarks, that though the leaf of the nettle is furnished with 

 numerous stings, or rather prickly hairs, it is quite wrong to look upon 

 them as thorns, which Pliny, in the present instance, (though not in 

 the next Chapter) appears to do. Genuine thorns, he remarks, are ahortive 

 branches, which, of course, cannot be said of the fine hairs springing from 

 the nerves of the leaf. See B.xxii. c. 15. 



50 Supposed to be the Tribulus terrestris of Linnaeus, a species of thistle : 

 the leaves of this plant, however, are not provided, Fee remarks, with 

 thorns at their base, the fruit alone being spinous. See c. 58 of this Book. 



51 See c. 58 of this Book. 



52 The Poterium spinosum of botanists. See B. xxii. c. 13. 



63 See B. xxii. c. 13. Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi. c. 5. identifies 

 this plant with the Stoebe just mentioned. 



54 " Acetabulis." Fee complains of the use of this term (meaning a 

 " small cup") in relation to the calyces of the nettle ; such not being in 

 reality their form. 



55 Probably in allusion to the Urtica dioica, which grows to a greater 

 height than the Urtica urens. See B. xxii. c. 15. 



68 " Canina." A variety, probably, of the Urtica urens, the nettle, with 



