LST A WO. CA. 5 
CoMMoN NETTLE. 
URTICA. Linn. Gen. Pl. Monorcia TETRANDRIA. 
Masc. Ca/. 4-phyllus. 
Cor. o.  Netlarium centrale, cyathiforme, 
Fem. Ca/. 2-valvis. Cor.o. Sem. 1. nitidum. 
Ran Syn, Gen. 5. HERB FLORE IMPERFECTO SEU STAMINEO (VEL APETALO POTIUS.) 
Linn, Syft. Veg. p. 849. Spec. P]. 1396. 
fürpibus fexu diftinétis, folus ferratis, ovato-lanceolatis, productis, Ha//. Hit. 1614. 
major vulgaris et media fylveftris, 
URTICA dioica, folus oppofitis cordatis, racemis geminis. 
FI. Suec. 863. — Scopoli FI. Carn. ed. 2. n. 1175. 
URTICA 
URTICA major vulgaris, F. Baub. III. 445. 
| urens. Ger emac, 7060. maxima,  Baub. Pin, 232. 
URTICA 
racemifera major perennis, Raz Syn, p. 139. Common Sunging-Nettle. — Hudf: F7. Ang, 
p. 418. Lighif. FL. Scot. p. 578. 

RADIX perennis, repens, teretiufcula, fubfulcata, tenax, 
flavefcens, geniculata, fibras majufculas e ge- 
niculis emittens. 
CAULES plures, bi ad quadripedales, ereCti, vix ra- 
mofi, obtufe tetragoni, quadrifulcati, pilis ri- $ 
gidis hifpidi. 
FOLIA oppofita, petiolata, cordata, acuminata, late 
lerrata, fupra rugofa, venofa, utrinque pilis 
fubulatis, urentibus hifpida. 
STIPUL quatuor, patentes, lineares, obtufiufcule, 
fubtus compreffo-canaliculate. 
FLORES dioici, in racemis quaternis, ramofis, deflexis, 
pubefcenti-hifpidis, glomeratim difpofiti. 
Mascuut FLores. 
CALYX: PznuiANTHIUM quadripartitum, laciniis pa- 
tentibus, ovatis, obtufis, concavis, fubtus 
Ícabris, fig, 1. 
COROLLA nulla. 
NECTARIUM in centro floris, turbinatum, fubdia- 
phanum, apice obtufum, perforatum. 
STAMINA: FinAMENTA quatuor, fubulata, longitu- 
dine calycis, patentia, intra fingulam laciniam 
calycinam fingula, inftante anthefi elaftice 
profilientia. — AwTHrRu& biloculares, albz, 
|J. 2. 
FrMiNEI FLORES. 
CALYX: PrzniíaNTHiUM quadripartitum, perfiftens ; 
laciniis duabus interioribus majoribus, germen 
cingentibus ; duabus exterioribus minimis, 
patentibus, fg. 9. — 
COROLLA nulla. 
PISTILLUM: Germen ovatum. STYLUS nullus. 
STIGMA patens, penicilliforme, album, fig. 4, 5. 
PERICARPIUM nullum, Ca/ycis lacinie interne, con- 
niventes, #g. 6. includunt. 
SEMEN unicum, ovatum, obtufo-compreffum, nitidum, 
Ig. 7, 8. 
© ROOT perennial, creeping, roundifh, flightly furrowed, 
Q tough, yellowifh, jointed, fending down from 
| the joints fome pretty large fibres. — 
STALKS many, from two to four feet high, upright, 
very little branched, bluntly quadrangular, 
each fide furrowed, befet with rigid hairs. 
) LEAVES oppofite, ftanding on foot-flalks, heart- 
{haped, acuminated, widely ferrated, the up- 
Q per fide wrinkled and veiny, on both fides 
0 befet with awl-fhaped, flinging hairs. . 
8 STIPULZ four, fpreading, linear, bluntith, the un- 
Q 
Q 
Q 
Q 
Q 
Q 
Q 

6 der fide comprefled and channelled. | 
FLOWERS dioicous, difperfed in {mail cluflers, in 
à racemi growing four together, which are 
branched, bending downward, and befet with 
d fine as well as coarfe hairs. 
Marz FLowers. 
? CALYX: a PzR1ANTHIUM divided into four fegments, 
Q 8 
é fpreading, ovate, obtufe, concave, beneath 
6 roughifh, jg. 1. 
0 COROLLA none. 
0 NECTARY in the centre of the flower, turbinated, 
e almoft tranfparent, blunt and perforated at 
the top. 
STAMINA: four Firaments awl-fhaped, length of 
. the calyx, fpreading, one in each fegment of 
the calyx, on fheddmg of the pollen fpringing 
out by their elafticity.. AN THER x bilocular, 
whitilh, fg. 2. 


© 
© 
FEMALE FLOWERS. 
(" 
j 
C 
: a permanent PzgiaNTHIUM divided into 
four fegments ; the two inner ones larger, fur- 
rounding the germen; the two outer ones 
very fmall, fpreading, jig. 3. 
COROLLA none. 
PISTILLUM: Germen ovate. SrTvLE none. STIGMA 
fpreading, feathery, white, fig. 4, 5. 
SEED-VESSEL none. The two inner fegments of the 
Calyx clofing and including the feed, jig. 6. 
Q 
Q 
Q 
Q 
Q 
Q 
Q 
Q 
Q 
| 
{hining, fg. 7, 8. 
The name of dioica is given to this fpecies of Nettle, from its producing male flowers on one plant, and 
female on another; it is however not always dioicous, as we have frequently obferved female flowers on the 
male plant in great numbers. 
It grows abundantly by the fides of hedges, in neglected fields, gardens, and paftures; and flowers from Tune 
to September. 
Baron Hauer has obferved, that im its fru€tification 
juft; the pollen in particular 1s difcharged in the fame 
The genus Urtica is 
it has great affinity with the Parietarta, which is certamly 
curious way. (See Parietar. offic. already figured.) 
: 
a numerous one, there being twenty-eight fpecies enumerated in the 14 ed. of Linn £us’s 
SyRena Vegetabilium ; all of which however do not fling, as the three fpecies indigenous to this country are 
well known to do: the naked eye readily 
microfcope of no great magnifying 
prickles, or ftings, highly polifhed 
perceives the inftruments by which the Nettle inftils its poifon; a 
power more plainly difcovers them to be rigid, tran{parent, tubular fete, 
and exquifitely pointed, furnifhed at their bafe with a kind of bulb, in which 
the juice is principally contained, and which being preffed on when the fling enters the fkin, forces the poifon 
into the wound ; of the venomous quality of this liquid, and of the manner in which it is emitted, I have had 
ocular proof: placing the foorflalk of a 
the microfcope than thofe on the leaves or 
ettleleaf* (the prickles being more manageable, and better adapted to 
flalks) on the ftage of the microfcope, fo that the whole of the prickle 
was in the focus when horizontally extended, I preffed on the bulb with a blunt-pointed pin, and, after fome 
trials, found a liquid to afcend in the priekle, fomewhat as the quickfilver does when a warm hand is applied to ' 
* The Urtica pilulifera 
the 
was the one made ufe of, 
Park. 440. 
SEEDS fingle, ovate, blunt, compreffed, whitifh, : 
E d 
