So far as the holly is concerned, it is certainly not despised by sheep and rabbits in this country. But how few are the plants investigated! Several of the commonest British plants are omitted just because no one has taken the trouble to watch them.
Here, then, is an opportunity of discovering something new, fresh, and interesting which should be well within the reach of any one who passes his life in the country.
CHAPTER XV
ON NETTLES, SENSITIVE PLANTS, ETC.
Stinging nettles at home and abroad—The use of the nettle—Sham nettles—Sensitive plants—Mechanism—Plants alive, under chloroform and ether—Telegraph plant—Woodsorrel—Have plants nerves?—Electricity in the Polar regions—Plants under electric shocks—Currents of electricity in plants—The singing of trees to the electro-magnetic ear—Experiments—Electrocution of vegetables.
THE common nettle is one of our most interesting British plants. It is exposed to great danger; one sees it growing not only in pastures and parks, but in waste places, along roadsides, and near cultivated ground. Yet it is very seldom either eaten or even touched. Cattle do occasionally eat the young shoots. But this is exceptional, for even in fields where there are plenty of cattle great clumps of nettle luxuriate and increase in size every year.
The stinging hairs are hollow and shaped rather like a narrow bulb or flask; the tip is slightly bent over and rounded (not sharp); the hairs contain formic acid. If one grasps the nettle or strokes it in a particular way (from below upwards) the hairs are pressed flat against the stem or broken, so that no wound is made by them in the skin and consequently they do no harm. But if the point of the hair pierces the skin, the well-known irritation is set up. That is because formic acid is poured into the wound. Besides the stinging hairs which keep off all the larger animals (including man) there are others, shorter and thickly set, which do not sting at all, but are intended to keep off snails.[96]
The pain produced by our common nettle is, however, a very trifling matter compared with that produced by some of the foreign species. One of the Indian kinds was used to excite and irritate bulls when they were intended to fight with tigers in the games which used to be held at some Indian Courts. Another found in Timor is called the Devil's Leaf; the effect of its sting may last for twelve months and may even produce death. But a still more dangerous stinging plant is a handsome tree (Laportea moroides) found in Australia. It is often 120-140 feet high, and has fine dark-green leaves often one foot in length. The sting is so powerful that even horses are killed by touching its leaves. The sting of Jatropha urens is so strong that people become unconscious. In Java also the sting of Urtica stimulans continues to smart for twenty-four hours, and may produce a fever which is very difficult to shake off.[97]
Yet our common nettle is the favourite food-plant of the caterpillars of the Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Peacock, Camberwell Beauty, and other butterflies.[98] These caterpillars are possibly more intelligent than many of our country folk, who do not know that the nettle is a very useful plant, as the following statements most clearly prove. Its young leaves make an excellent spinach, and it was, according to Sir Walter Scott, formerly cultivated in Scotland as a pot-herb. Pigs, turkeys, geese, and fowls like the leaves when they are chopped up. It is said that the dried leaves and seeds will make hens lay in winter time. The seeds, under pressure, yield quite a good oil. A yellow dye can be obtained by boiling the roots with alum. An excellent string can also be made from the inner bark of the stems, which has, in fact, been used to make twine and even clothing. The nettle is also valuable as an external stimulant in cases of paralysis.
A plant with so many wonderful properties would not be so common as it is, or so little disturbed, if it were not for its powerful stings.