NETTLE

A well known stinging plant, growing in neglected grounds, Isa 34:13 Ho 9:6. A different Hebrew word in Job 30:7 Pr 24:31 Zep 2:9, seems to indicate a larger species.

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Nettle. Nettle
(1.) Heb. haral, “pricking” or “burning,” Prov. 24:30, 31 (R.V. marg., “wild vetches”); Job 30:7; Zeph. 2:9. Many have supposed that some thorny or prickly plant is intended by this word, such as the bramble, the thistle, the wild plum, the cactus or prickly pear, etc. It may probably be a species of mustard, the Sinapis arvensis, which is a pernicious weed abounding in corn-fields. Tristram thinks that this word “designates the prickly acanthus (Acanthus spinosus), a very common and troublesome weed in the plains of Palestine.”

(2.) Heb. qimmosh, Isa. 34:13; Hos. 9:6; Prov. 24:31 (in both versions, “thorns”). This word has been regarded as denoting thorns, thistles, wild camomile; but probably it is correctly rendered “nettle,” the Urtica pilulifera, “a tall and vigorous plant, often 6 feet high, the sting of which is much more severe and irritating than that of our common nettle.”

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nettle. Nettle, n. a stinging plant; v.t. to provoke, to sting

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Net″tle (?), n. [[AS. netele; akin to D. netel, G. nessel, OHG. nezzïla, nazza, Dan. nelde, nälde, Sw. nässla; cf, Lith. notere.]] (Bot.) A plant of the genus Urtica, covered with minute sharp hairs containing a poison that produces a stinging sensation. Urtica gracilis is common in the Northern, and U. chamædryoides in the Southern, United States. The common European species, U. urens and U. dioica, are also found in the Eastern united States. U. pilulifera is the Roman nettle of England. ☞ The term nettle has been given to many plants related to, or to some way resembling, the true nettle; as: Australian nettle, a stinging tree or shrub of the genus Laportea (as L. gigas and L. moroides); — also called nettle tree. — Bee nettle, Hemp nettle, a species of Galeopsis. See under Hemp. — Blind nettle, Dead nettle, a harmless species of Lamium. — False nettle (Bæhmeria cylindrica), a plant common in the United States, and related to the true nettles. — Hedge nettle, a species of Stachys. See under Hedge. — Horse nettle (Solanum Carolinense). See under Horse. — nettle tree. (a) Same as Hackberry. (b) See Australian nettle (above). — Spurge nettle, a stinging American herb of the Spurge family (Jatropha urens). — Wood nettle, a plant (Laportea Canadensis) which stings severely, and is related to the true nettles. Nettle cloth, a kind of thick cotton stuff, japanned, and used as a substitute for leather for various purposes. — Nettle rash (Med.), an eruptive disease resembling the effects of whipping with nettles. — Sea nettle (Zoöl.), a medusa.