THE WHITE AND RED DEAD-NETTLES. 63 



The red dead-nettle is almost as abundant as the white, 

 though being ordinarily a much smaller plant, it does 

 not so readily attract attention. It is found in the same 

 spots as the Lamium album, and is one of the earliest 

 weeds to spring up in the neglected garden, but, being 

 an annual, it may easily be eradicated when greater 

 diligence has changed the waste into a pleasaunce, and 

 the legitimate denizens of the garden claim their own 

 again. Both these nettles flower throughout the whole 

 year, though, like all other flowers, they are not insensible 

 of the charms of the spring and the glorious sunshine 

 of summer, and are at these seasons, more especially, 

 commonly to be met with in blossom. The leaves of 

 the red dead-nettle are somewhat broader in proportion 

 to their length, and more heart-shaped, than those of 

 the white nettles, and, especially near the top of the 

 plant, are much more crowded together on the stem; 

 the arrangement in pairs pointing in alternate directions 

 is similar to that noted in the white dead-nettle. The 

 upper leaves of the red nettle are sometimes densely clothed 

 with silky hairs, and are often of a deep purplish crimson, 

 a colour that in some cases suffuses the whole plant, 

 foliage, stem, and blossom all alike glowing with it, and 

 rendering it much more noticeable and striking in appear- 

 ance. When the plant grows in the rank grass of the hedge- 

 bank it is often drawn up to a very considerable length, 

 and is then so different in appearance to the more typical 

 forms that a novice might well be pardoned in thinking 

 that a plant so dissimilar could scarcely be practically 

 the same. On the open ground the plant is somewhat 

 spreading in habit, rarely more than six inches in height, 

 and ordinarily more or less warm and rich in colour, 



