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A GOOD WORD FOR THE NETTLE 



(Urtica) 



PUBLIC opinion has nothing to say in favour of the Its bad re- 

 nettle : it is probably the most worthless and detested P utat/lon - 

 of weeds. We associate it in our minds with thorns 

 and thistles, the symbols of man's punishment for his 

 first disobedience; and a puritan divine has told us 

 that ' its great abundance is a continued memorial of 

 the Fall '. It is a weed ineradicable and useless ; toil 

 and sweat are necessary to keep it down ; and no 

 child of Adam has escaped the peril of its sting. 



1 This is the case against the nettle. 



Cannot a good word be said for it ? It is, at least, Its 

 of some interest to botanical science. In our island b tamc <* 1 

 there are three well-known species the common or 

 great nettle, with heart-shaped leaves tapering to 

 a point, and stalks that reach a height of two or 

 three feet; the small nettle, not quite so common, 

 readily distinguished by its brighter green, and its 

 elliptical leaves; and the rather rare Roman nettle, 

 of intermediate height, bearing narrow ovate leaves, 



20 and notorious for the virulence of its sting. (The 

 white, or red, flowering dead-nettle, as the name 

 indicates, has no sting, and is no true nettle.) The 

 sting of the nettle is in the delicate thorns or hairs 

 with which the leaves and stalks are plentifully 

 armed. Small and fine though those hairs are, they 

 are tubular, and communicate with a gland in the 

 texture of the plant which is filled with formic acid. 

 The fine hair easily pierces a sensitive skin, and, 

 breaking, discharges the venomous acid into the 



30 wound, thereby occasioning the tingling pain which 



