84 SEA-SIDE PLANTS. 



waste sandy places near the sea. It has numerous 

 pale purple flowers, and is not one of the most 

 beautiful of the tribe, though spiny enough to 

 remind us of the Scotch motto, " No one touches 

 me with impunity." 



We find nettles everywhere, whether by lane 

 or woodland, by ancient ruin or on open shore. 

 But the most venomous of all our British nettles 

 is not a common species of inland growth, and is 

 oftener found by the sea than far from it. This 

 is the Roman nettle ( Urtica pilulifera) , which has 

 large leaves, on long thick stalks, and four-sided 

 stems. If all our nettles were like this, they 

 would well deserve their name, taken from uro, 

 to burn, for the pain inflicted by its sting does 

 not easily pass away. Like its companions, how- 

 ever, it in some measure atones for its venom by 

 the uses to which it may be applied. Very good 

 cordage is made of nettle fibre, and in Scotland 

 the plant is frequently eaten as food. Indeed, the 

 boiled tops of the young nettle are no despicable 

 table vegetable. There are writers who greatly 

 recommend the culture of our larger species of 

 nettles for forage ; and it appears that the common 

 large nettle (Urtica dioica) has yielded a good 

 supply of food for cows, by being planted in rows. 

 A singular purpose, too, to which nettles have 

 been applied, is that of stopping the leaks of 

 wooden vessels. Some handfuls of the green 

 nettles are rubbed over the joinings of the staves ; 

 into these the juice penetrates, and coagulating 

 there, forms a barrier to the escape of any of the 

 contents of the vessel. 



Almost every one knows the common Sun 



