742 



THE NETTLE FAMILY. 



I. NETTLE. URTICA. 



Erect herbs, with stinging hairs and opposite leaves. Flowers in 

 axillary clusters or spikes ; the males with a perianth of 4 segments 

 and 4 stamens ; the females with a perianth of 2 segments, or, if 4, 

 the 2 inner ones larger. Fruit a flattened seed-like nut, enclosed in 

 the perianth. Stigma single, sessile, and tufted. 



A considerable genus, generally distributed over the globe. 



Annual and monoecious. Flowers in nearly sessile short 



clusters 1. Small N. 



Annual and monoecious. Male flowers in loose spikes. Fe- 

 males in stalked, globular heads 2. Roman N. 



Perennial, usually dioecious. Flowers in branched spikes . 3. Common N. 



1. Small Nettle. Urtica urens 3 Linn. (Fig. 895.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1236.) 



An erect, branching annual, seldom 

 above a foot high and often only a few 

 inches, glabrous with the exception of 

 the stiff, stinging hairs. Leaves ovate 

 or elliptical, deeply and regularly 

 toothed, more tender than in the two 

 other species. Flowers male and fe- 

 male intermixed, in small, loose, almost 

 sessile axillary clusters. 



In cultivated and waste places, es- 

 pecially in rich soils, throughout Eu- 

 rope and Hussian Asia, from the Me- 

 diterranean to the Arctic regions, and 

 carried out as a weed of cultivation to 

 other parts of the world. Common in 

 Britain. Fl. the whole season. 



Fig. 895. 



2. Roman Nettle. Urtica pilulifera, Linn. (Fig. 896.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 148.) 



An annual like the last, but coarser and taller, attaining 2 feet, and 

 very stinging, Leaves ovate or heart-shaped, deeply and regularly 

 toothed. Male flowers in little, distinct clusters, along peduncles 



