HEMP-NETTLE. 



Gnfeopsis Tetrahlt. Nat. Ord., 

 Labiatce. 



HE hernp-nettle is so called 

 not on account of any 

 botanical affinity with 

 the hemp for the name 

 was bestowed long be- 

 fore botanical science 

 was out of its infancy 

 nor even from its sharing 

 the valuable qualities of 

 the hemp as a raw ma- 

 terial for fabrics, though 

 doubtless the fibres of 

 many plants could be 

 turned to more account 

 than we find to be the 

 case. The name merely 

 arose from a slight re- 

 semblance in the leaves of the two plants. The leaves 

 of the true hemp are composed of some five or seven long, 

 narrow, sharply-serrated leaves, all springing from one point 

 a beautiful form in itself, and somewhat resembling the 

 leaf of the better known horse-chestnut, except that in the 

 hemp all the leaflets are much narrower in proportion to 

 their length. The leaves of the hemp-nettle have no such 

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