88 



URTICACEAE (NETTLE FAMILY) 



with a stamen inserted at base; fertile flowers also have four 

 sepals, the inner pair curving over and persistently enclosing the 

 seed as it matures. Achenes very small, flattened ovoid, numer- 

 ous. (Fig. 48.) 



Means of control 



Close cutting in June and again in August, using dry salt to check 

 recovery. In yards and roadsides the rootstocks should be grubbed 

 out and destroyed. The plants cut or pulled should be dried for a 

 few days and then burned so as to ensure destruction of the seeds. 



GREAT, OR STINGING, NETTLE 



Urtlca dioica, L. 



Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom: July to September. 

 Seed-time: September until cut off by frost. 



Range : Nova Scotia to Ontario and Minnesota, 

 southward to South Carolina and Missouri. 



Habitat : Waste places and roadsides. 



Not a very common plant, which is fortunate, 

 since its stings are so venomous as to cause acute 

 discomfort for a considerable time. It is well 

 to know that dilute alcohol will almost im- 

 mediately relieve the burning and itching pain. 

 (Fig. 49.) 



Stem two to four feet tall, stout, four-ridged, 

 hollow, densely set with fiercely stinging hairs. 

 Leaves long-oval, long-pointed, one to three 

 inches wide and three to six inches long, three 

 to five-nerved, rounded or heart-shaped at base, 

 coarsely but sharply toothed, clothed with the 

 venohious hairs ; petioles much shorter than the 

 blades. The flowers are small and greenish, 

 similar to those of the preceding species, growing 

 in large, compound clusters from the axils of 

 ing Settle (Urtica tne u PP er leaves, the fertile and the staminate 



dioica). X 



flowers usually on different plants. 



