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 
Urtica 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 
venomous 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 
ee NaHioumeae the upper leaves, the fertile and the staminate 
dioica). x 4. flowers usually on different plants. 
