What child does not know the Common Stinging Nettle? We have all learned
to avoid it after having felt its sting.
You find this Nettle everywhere in late summer and autumn.
It has a four-sided stem, which is rough with bristly hairs. The leaves
grow opposite each other in pairs with a good space between each pair.
They are dark green and rather coarse, and are covered with a network of
veins and with many stinging hairs.
Close to the stalk the leaves are heart-shaped, but the tips are sharply
pointed and the edges are deeply toothed all round.
The flowers of the Common Nettle grow on slender stalks which rise
between the leaf and the main stem. These flowers are green, and they
are very small and unattractive.
On one flower you find four green sepals and four yellow-headed stamens,
but there are no petals and no seed-vessel.
In another flower there is a fat green seed-vessel, with four sepals
round it.
PLATE XXXI: 1. PURPLE SEA ROCKET 2. CUCKOO FLOWER OR LADY'S SMOCK
3. MARSH CINQUEFOIL 4. WATER AVENS