THE NETTLE TRIBE. 89 



weeding-basket, Mary, is of the common osier,* 

 and your mamma lias a basket made of the fine 

 basket osier, which grows in meadows and marshy 

 places in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. Eobert's 

 arrows are made of the aspen,t and most of our 

 charcoal is made from sallows." 



Kobert wished to know why willows are some- 

 times called osiers and sallows ; and he was told 

 that these names help to distinguish the different 

 species in this extensive family, which contains 

 upwards of sixty distinct species, natives of Britain ; 

 so that the study of willows is not a little puzzling 

 to young botanists. 



"Let us now pass on," said his father, "to a 

 neighbouring group, which is chiefly distinguished 

 from this by the flowers not being commonly ar- 

 ranged in catkins. I shall first notice the nettle 

 tribe." 



"Why is the nettle put among trees?" asked 

 Eobert. 



" Because it resembles these particular trees in 

 important botanical particulars. But the nettle is 

 not always the despised weed it is with us. Some 

 of the species grow to the height of trees, and have 



* S. mminalis. f P. tremula. 



