Common Nettle. 
URTICA. Linn, Gen, PL Monoecia Tetrandria, 
Masc. Cal. 4-phylIus. Car. o. NeBarium centrale, cyathiforme, 
Fem, Cal. 2-valvis. Car. o, Sem. J. nitidum. 
RaiiSyn. Gen. g, Herb,® elore imperfecto seu stamikeo (vel apetalo potius.) 
URTICA diolca, foliis oppofitis cordatis, racemis geminis. Lmn. Syjl. Veg.fi.84g, Sfiec. Pl. l^g6, 
FI. Suec, 863. Scopoli F/, Carn. ed. 2. n. 1175. 
URTICA ftirpibus fexu diflinftis, foliis ferratis, ovato-lanceolatis, produ&is. Hali, Hift. 1614. 
URTICA major vulgaris. J. Bauh. III. 445. major vulgaris et media fylveftris. Park. 440» 
urens. Ger emac. 706. maxima, Bauh. Pin. 232. 
URTICA racemifera major perennis. Raii Syn. p. 139. Common Stinging-Nettle. Hudf, FI. Angi, 
p. 418. Light/, F l Scot, p, 578, 
RADIX perennis, repens, teretiufcula, fubfulcata, tenax, C 
flavefcens, geniculata, fibras majufculas e ge- 
niculis emittens. 
CAULES plures, bi ad quadripedales, erefti, vix ra- 
mofi, obtufe tetragoni, quadrifulcati, pilis ri- ; 
gidis hifpidi. < 
FOLIA oppofita, petiolata, cordata, acuminata, late ( 
ferrata, fupra rugofa, venofa, utrinque pilis i 
fubulatis, urentibus hifpida. 
STIPULAl quatuor, patentes, lineares, obtufiufculas, 
fubtus compreflo-canaliculatae. 
FLQRES dioici, in racemis quaternis, ramofis, deflexis, { 
pubefcend-hifpidis, glomeratim difpofiti. 
CALYX ; Perianthium quadripartitum, laciniis pa- 
tentibus, ovatis, obtufis, concavis, fubtus 
fcabris, Jig. 1. 
COROLLA nulla. 
NECTARIUM in centro floris, turbinatum, fubdia- 1 
phanum, apice obtufum, perforatum. 
STAMINA: Filamenta quatuor, fubulata, longitu- 
dine calycis, patentia, intra fingulam laciniam 
calycinam lingula, inflante anthefi elaftice 
profilientia, Anthprae biloculares, qlbte, 
M'. 2 . 
CALYX: Perianthium quadripartitum, perfiftens; ' 
laciniis duabus interioribus majoribus, germen 
cingentibus ; duabus exterioribus minimis, 
patentibus, Jig. 3. 
COROLLA nulla. 
PISTILLUM: Germen ovatum. Stylus nullus. ' 
Stigma patens, penicilliforme, alburn,^, 4, 5. \ 
PERICARPIUM nullum. Calycis lacinias internas, con- , 
niventes, jig. 6. includunt. 
SEMEN unicum, ovatum, obtufo-compreffum, nitidum, ■ 
fis- 7 . 8 . 
ROOT perennial, creeping, roundifh, {lightly furrowed, 
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, Handing on foot-ftalks, heart- 
fhaped, acuminated, widely ferrated, the up- 
per fide wrinkled and veiny, on both fides 
'efet with awl-fhaped, flinging hairs. 
STIPULyE four, fpreading, linear, biuntifh, the un- 
der fide comprefled and channelled. 
FLOWERS dioicous, difperfed in fmall cluflers, in 
racemi growing four together, which are 
branched, bending downward, and befet with 
fine as well as coarfe hairs. 
Male Flowers. 
CALYX : a Perianthium divided into four fegments, 
fpreading, ovate, obtufe, concave, beneath 
roughifh. Jig. 1. 
COROLLA none. 
NECTARY in the centre of the flower, turbinated, 
almoft tranfparent, blunt and perforated at 
the top. 
STAMINA: four Filaments awl-fhaped, length of 
the calyx, fpreading, one in each fegment of 
the calyx, on fhedding of the pollen fpringing 
out by their elaflicity. Anther# bilocular, 
whitifh, Jig. 2. 
Female Flowers. 
CALYX: a permanent Perianthium divided into 
four fegments ; the two inner ones larger, fur- 
rounding the germen; the two outer ones 
very fmall, fpreading-, fitr. q, 
COROLLA none. 6 
PISTILLUM: Germen ovate. Style none. Stigma 
fpreading, feathery, white. Jig. 4, 5. 
SEEDrVESSEL none, The two inner fegments of the 
Calyx clofing and including the feed. Jig. 6. 
SEEDS Angle, ovate, blunt, comprefled, whitifh, 
fluning, Jig. 7, 8. 
The name of dioica is given to this fpecies of Nettle, from its producing male flowers cm 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. negleaed fields, gardens, and paftures, and flowers from Tune 
to September. J 
Baron Haller has obferved, that in its fruftification it has great affinity with the Parietaria, which is certainly 
juft ; the pollen in particular is difeharged in the fame curious way. (See Parietar. offic. already figured.) 1 
The genus Urtica is a numerous one, there being twenty-eight fpecies enumerated in the 14 ed. of Linnaeus s 
Syjlema 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 perceives the inftruments by which the Nettle inftils its poifon • a 
microfcope of no great magnifying power more plainly difeovers them to be rigid, tranfparent, tubular feta 
prickles, or flings, highly pohfhed and exquifitely pointed, furnifhed at their bafe with a kind' of bulb in which 
the juice is principally contained, and which being prefTed 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 footflalk of a Mettle leaf* (the prickles being more manageable, and better adapted to 
the nucroicope than thole on the leaves prftalks) on theflage of the microfcope, fo that the whole of the prickle 
was in the focus when horizontally extended, I prefled on the bulb with a blunt-pointed pin, and after home 
trials, found a liquid to aicend in the prickle, fomewhat as the quickfilver does when a warm hapd is applied to 
ihe 
f The Urtica pilulifera was the one made ufe oif. 
