354 



LABI AT AE (MINT FAMILY) 



HEMP NETTLE 

 Galeopsis Tetrdhit, L. 



Other English names : Dog Nettle, Bee Nettle, Stinging Nettle, Wild 



Hemp, Bastard Hemp. 



Introduced. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom : June to August. 

 Seed-time: August to October. 

 Range : Newfoundland to British Columbia and Alaska, southward 



to North Carolina and Michigan. 

 Habitat: Fields, pastures, roadsides, and waste places. 



FIG. 245. Hemp Nettle (Gale- 

 opsis Tetrahit). X i- 



Grazing cattle shun this weed, and 

 gloves are needed in handling it when 

 full-grown. Stem one to three feet 

 tall, stout, four-sided, swollen below 

 the joints, much branched and spread- 

 ing, bristling with prickly hairs. The 

 opposite leaves are ovate, long- 

 pointed, coarsely toothed, bristly- 

 hairy on both sides, and with bristly 

 petioles. Flowers in a dense, short, 

 leafy-bracted terminal spike and in 

 axillary clusters ; corolla nearly an 

 inch long, pink or pale purple, with a 

 stiff, concave entire upper lip, longer 

 than the lower one, which has three 

 lobes ; the tube is about twice the 

 length of the bristly calyx, which has 

 five long, nearly equal awl-like points. 

 Seeds four small, flattened, ovoid 

 nutlets. (Fig. 245.) 



Means of control 



Prevent reproduction by close cutting while young. If nearing 

 maturity when cut the weed should be removed from the ground, 

 as the large, swollen stems contain enough nutriment to ripen the 

 seed. 



