Subtropical plant of the nettle family. Nettle family. General information about nettles

07.04.2020

Nettle family (Urticaceae) (I. A. Grudzinskaya)

Nettles include about 60 genera and more than 1000 plant species, distributed mainly in the tropics. The family is usually subdivided into 5 tribes: nettle proper (Urticeae), prokris (Procrideae), bemeria (Boehmerieae), forskaolee (Forsskaoleae) and posttennitsa (Parietarieae).

The main difference of stinging nettles in the order system is the orthotropic and basal or almost basal ovule, direct shovel-shaped embryo and the predominance of herbaceous life forms.

The evolution of the family went mainly along the lines of simplifying the structure of organs and reducing their parts. The features of reduction in nettles are especially clearly manifested in the flower: the gynoecium has completely lost its dimeric structure, and the number of flower parts can also be reduced to the limit. In the tribe Forscaoleaceae, for example, the male flower usually consists of one stamen surrounded by a perianth, the female flower contains only gynoeciums, its perianth is completely reduced, less often an undivided perianth develops. Inflorescences of nettles of the primate type, diverse in shape: capitate, paniculate, catkin-shaped. Sometimes they are bisexual and contain one - several female and several male flowers, more often the inflorescences are unisexual.

Nettles are wind-pollinated plants. Their stamens in the buds are usually bent inwards, but by the time of pollination, the filaments immediately straighten out, the anthers crack from the shock and throw out pollen. This adaptation for dispersing pollen is a characteristic feature of nettles.

Nettle fruits are small, dry (nutty), but in some species they are surrounded by a juicy cover of a fleshy calyx that has grown after flowering, which makes the fruit look like a drupe or berry. Urera baccifera, a small tree native to the American rainforests, has a brightly colored calyx that makes the fruit even more like a berry. Similar to berries and reddish-orange inflorescences of Procris species (Procris), the fleshy part of these inflorescences is formed by the receptacle. The reddish-purple mulberry seedlings (Laportea moroides) are very similar to mulberry seedlings or raspberry fruits, however, in contrast to them, the fleshy part of the fruit of this plant arose mainly due to the growth of the pedicel.

Nettles bear fruit profusely, and in some species seeds can develop asexually as a result of apomixis. For example, in a number of species of elatostema (Elatostema acuminatum, E. sessile) there are almost no male flowers, however, female flowers produce fruits with full seeds. Observations on the formation of seeds have shown that in these plants the micropyle overgrows long before the maturation of the embryo sac and the embryo arises from an unreduced ovum without pollination and without fertilization.

In most nettles, the most common method of fruit distribution is zoochory, however, in a number of species of Elatostema and Pilea (Pilea), the fruits are peculiarly catapulted, and the role of the catapult is played by staminodes. During the pollination of flowers, staminodes are barely noticeable, and only by the time of fruiting do they significantly increase in size. At this time, the staminodes are bent inwards and support the fetus partially hanging over them (Fig. 148). As soon as a separating layer forms on the stalk and the connection between the fruit and the plant weakens, the staminodes straighten with force and eject (catapult) the fruit. In this case, the fruits fly off at a distance of 25 - 100 m from the mother plant. However, in most stinging nettles, zoochory remains the most common way of fruit dispersal.

Nettles very often reproduce vegetatively by rooting stems, underground stolons, root suckers, tubers, etc. In herbaceous succulents, this method of reproduction often prevails over seed.

Nettle leaves are simple, usually with 3 veins at the base, one of characteristic features they are the abundance of cystoliths - whitish formations impregnated with calcium carbonate (Fig. 148). The shape of cystoliths (dotted, rod-shaped, oval, crescent-shaped, club-shaped, stellate, V-shaped, etc.) is more or less constant for certain taxa and often serves as a good diagnostic feature in the taxonomy of species and genera of the family.

The leaves of primitive forms of nettles are located on the shoots crosswise oppositely, in more advanced forms, the leaf arrangement can change to two-row-alternate, due to the reduction of one leaf in each pair of opposite leaves. There are many intermediate stages along the way of this transition. Most often, one of the opposite leaves does not disappear completely, but only decreases in size, and then we are faced with a very characteristic phenomenon for nettles - anisophylly - the development in one node of unequal in size, and sometimes in shape of leaves (Fig. 148).

The most well-known in the family are representatives of the nettle tribe, which unites burning plants. The Latin name of the tribe Urticeae (as well as Urtica, Urticaceae and Urticales), derived from the word uro - burning, is given to it for the many burning hairs covering the leaves and stems of plants. Stinging nettle hairs have stinging cells (up to 100 stinging cells per 1 mg of its mass), containing a caustic liquid of a complex chemical composition; it contains histamine, acetylcholine, formic acid. A burning hair looks like a capillary tube ending in a small rounded head (Fig. 147). Top part the hair becomes silicified and breaks off when touched, the sharp edges of the hair pierce the skin, and the contents of the stinging cell are injected into the wound. As a result, there is a painful burning sensation - a nettle burn.

Burns inflicted by tropical representatives of the tribe, especially arboreal laportees, sometimes lead to serious consequences. The stinging action of the strong-burning Laportea (Laportea urentissima), which grows in Southeast Asia, is so strong that it can cause the death of a child. The arboreal laportees of the Philippines are also notorious: the Lusop laporte (L. Luzonensis) and the semi-closed laporte (L. subclausa). Incredibly painful action of the burning hairs of the Australian giant laportee (L. gigas) - a large tree from the tropical rainforests of Northeast Australia; the pain from her burn often leads to fainting and is felt for several months. The same burns, accompanied by tumors of the lymph nodes, are caused by the Australian succulent mulberry mulberry, which grows in our greenhouses as a herbaceous plant, and the light-leaved shrub (L. photiniphylla) from the Fiji Islands, from New Caledonia and Australia. Unpleasant burns laporteiznoy (L. aestuans) - a small creeping herbaceous plant of the Antilles. The touch of the herbaceous Girardinia heterophylla, common in Indochina, is very painful.

Burning hairs protect the plant from being eaten by animals, but, of course, they do not save it from all enemies. The leaves of the Australian arboreal laportea, for example, turned out to be harmless to cattle, the leaves of nettles eat snails with impunity, etc. It is not surprising, therefore, to see additional protective devices in plants. Urera berry, for example, in addition to burning hairs, develops many spines on the shoots, in addition, it is one of the few nettles that have milky juice. Laportey and nettles also have milky, but they contain a colorless liquid, and not milky juice, like most mulberries.

The genus predominates in the number of species in the tribe. nettle(Urtica), containing approximately 50 species herbaceous plants, and the tropical genus Urera (35 species), represented by different life forms: herbaceous plants, shrubs, softwood trees and lianas, the latter include most African species. In the USSR, of the tribe Urticeae, only nettle species are widespread (Fig. 147). Everyone knows the nettle as a burning weed, but not everyone knows that the common nettle (U. dioica) is the most useful plant of our temperate flora (Fig. 147). It is rich in vitamins A, C, K and mineral salts, its leaves and young shoots are edible, they are used raw (mashed) and boiled. AT traditional medicine it is successfully used as a hemostatic agent for internal bleeding, as well as for beriberi. Nettle seeds are rich in oil, the leaves are successfully used for feeding silkworms, yellow is obtained from the roots, and green paint is obtained from the leaves. Since ancient times, nettle has been known as a spinning plant; in the past, it was a common raw material for making fabrics in a handicraft way. The bactericidal effect of nettle is well known to fishermen, and they use it to preserve fresh fish (the insides of the fish are taken out and stuffed with nettles).

The constant companion of human habitation - nettle dioica - is cosmopolitan, stinging nettle (U. urens) has a cosmopolitan range - smaller and more stinging annual plant(Fig. 147). These plants also differ in the nature of the distribution of flowers: in stinging nettle, both male and female flowers are placed on the same plant, in dioecious nettle, usually on different plants. It differs sharply from them in 3 - 5-separate leaves, similar to hemp leaves, hemp nettle (U. cannabina, Fig. 147). Its range passes through the Asian part of the USSR, Mongolia, Japan and China. Another peculiar type of nettle is ball-bearing nettle (U. pilulifera) - a small bluish plant with whole leaves and spherical inflorescences on long legs located in their axils. Its range covers the Mediterranean, in our country it grows in the Crimea and the Caucasus, occasionally meeting in the south of the European part of the USSR.

In addition to nettles, in the USSR from this tribe there are occasionally spiky girardinia (Girardinia cuspidata) and bulbous laportea (Laportea bulbifera), in the axils of the leaves of the latter, fleshy tubers develop, with the help of which it propagates vegetatively. Both types are common in Far East. These are tall herbaceous plants with stinging, nettle-like hairs.

The largest prokris tribe includes more than 700 species of mostly herbaceous, often succulent plants, living mainly under the canopy of tropical rain forests or in moist habitats in semi-deciduous tropical forests - near streams, under rocks, in gorges. The pantropical genus Pilea (about 400 species) dominates in the tribe, uniting herbaceous plants with intraaxillary fused stipules, predominantly a 3-lobed perianth in female flowers (Fig. 148) and distinct cystoliths of various shapes on leaves and stems.

The genus Elatostema is widespread in the tropics of the Old World, including (together with Pellionia) about 300 species of herbaceous plants. Very close to it is a small (16 - 20 species) paleotropic genus Prokris, its representatives, mainly herbaceous or shrubby epiphytes with succulent leaves and stems, grow on the trunks and lower branches of trees. Prokris are common on the islands of Indonesia and the Philippines, but in general, the range of the genus extends from tropical Africa, through the tropics of Southeast Asia, the islands of Micronesia and the Solomon Islands to Polynesia.

In the USSR (in the Far East), 3 types of pili with crosswise opposite leaves grow from prokris. This is a small (up to 7 cm high) round-leaved pilea (Pilea rotundifolia), Japanese pilea (P. japonica), also common in Japan and China, and a perennial herbaceous Mongolian pilea (Re mongolica), growing in Transbaikalia.

Pili species and other members of this tribe are best known to us as graceful, widely cultivated ornamental plants. Particularly noteworthy are the variegated forms, climbing plants with reddish leaves - small herbaceous succulents, similar in habit to a tree bl. 39). This is a small-leaved pilea (P. microphylla) - an American plant widely used as an ornamental and in the Old World. In Southeast Asia, in addition, the sour shoots of this pili are eaten.

Pilea small-leaved blooms profusely, its millimeter pinkish flowers (Table 39) do not open simultaneously, and the anthers also alternately crack, suddenly throwing clouds of yellowish pollen into the air. It gives the impression that it shoots pollen, which is why this graceful little saw is called the "artillery plant".

The Bemeriaceae tribe has a pantropical distribution (only a few species enter areas of a warm temperate climate) and unites about 16 genera and about 250 species, mostly herbaceous plants with characteristic large and usually large-toothed leaves arranged oppositely crosswise. In the axils of the leaves are capitate or catkin-shaped inflorescences. In some tropical bemerias, the filamentous axes of the female inflorescences sometimes reach a length of 50–100 cm and look like lichen beards, more often the flowers are collected on the inflorescence axis in separate spherical heads, which is why the overall inflorescence looks like a string of beads.

There are many spinning plants among the bemeriaceae, and the most valuable of them is ramie (Boehmeria nivea) - a large herbaceous plant with whole, white-silver leaves below. Silky fiber is obtained from its bast, which is used to make various fabrics. The fibers of ramie are several times longer than those of other spinning plants, they reach 500 mm. Rami comes from China, but has long been cultivated in many countries, including the USSR (mainly in Central Asia and the Caucasus), and has not lost its importance in the textile industry. Fibers of green bemeria (B. viridis) and representatives of some other genera of the tribe (pipturus - Pipturus, mautia - Maoutia, puzolzia - Pouzolzia, leukosike - Leucosyke) are also used for yarn.

A small tribe of Forscaoleaceae, consisting of 3 genera, has long attracted the attention of researchers with extremely radiated flowers, outwardly not at all similar to nettle flowers. Their medium-sized few-flowered inflorescences are also peculiar: they are enclosed in a wrapper that imitates the perianth, and look like separate flowers.

This tribe is one of the most specialized in the family and at the same time, undoubtedly, very ancient, as evidenced by the ranges of its genera. The genus Australina (Australina, Fig. 149), for example, is distributed in South Africa, in the mountains of Northeast Africa, in South Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. Huge gaps in the range of Australina indicate its antiquity and suggest that in the distant past, the distribution of the genus was associated with the southern continent of Gondwana, which broke up more than 75 million years ago and gave rise to South America, Africa, India, Australia and Antarctica. Apparently, the genus Drougetia also has similar connections; at present, its representatives naturally grow in South and East Africa, Madagascar and India.

Completely different ancient connections are shown by the distribution of the genus Forskaolea. Its modern range extends from the Canary Islands through North Africa, South Europe, West Asia and Afghanistan to India, and thus covers a number of areas of the ancient Mediterranean floristic sub-realm of Holarctic. It is quite probable that this genus also spread in the Cretaceous period as part of the Cretaceous subtropical flora along the shores and islands of the ancient Tethys Sea.

A small tribe of stennitsa (5 genera and about 30 species), the most advanced in the nettle family, includes herbaceous and shrubby plants with entire, mostly alternate leaves, their inflorescences are one many-flowered, often with wrappers, the perianth of the female flowers is tubular.

The tribe is dominated by the genus Parietaria, which differs somewhat from other nettles in its distribution mainly in the warm-temperate zone and in the clear predominance of bisexual flowers. Stennitsa, usually tender herbaceous plants, sometimes lignified in the lower part, grow in damp places in shady areas, among rocks and stones; they often appear on scree, along mountain slopes they reach a height of 3000 m above sea level (Central Asia). Their range covers mainly the temperate regions of Eurasia, but the weak wall wall (P. debilis) is much more widespread and is found on all five continents. Its range is often cited as an example of the extraordinary breadth of the species' natural distribution. However, it is possible that in a number of countries, the weak wall was introduced as a result of human activities.

There are many pioneer plants among the walls, and weeds are not uncommon. Their seeds are usually spread by animals. Ants spread the seeds of the lusitanian wallflower (P. lusitanica), they harvest the fruits of this plant for the sake of elaiosomes - oily appendages, into which the bases of its perianths turn.

In the USSR, 5 types of stencils are common, they grow in the south of the European part, in the Caucasus, in Central Asia and in the Far East (medical stencil - P. officinalis, Lusitanian stencil, Judaic stencil - P. judaica, mosquito-leaved stencil - P. alsinifolia and stennitsa small-flowered - P. micrantha, which some researchers identify with weak wall).

In the Ancient Mediterranean floristic sub-kingdom, the remaining 4 genera of the tribe are also common, and the tree-like forms of the representatives of the genus Hemistilis (Hemistylis) also correspond in tropical America (in the Antilles and in the northern regions of South America) , growing in the Antilles, herbaceous Russelia (Rousselia humilis) in the Mediterranean of the Old World is replaced by grassy soleirolia (Soleirolia soleirolii).

Soleyroliya is a small climbing plant with densely seated small rounded leaves and single flowers, the wrappers of which are covered with curved clinging hairs (Fig. 149). It is common in Southern Europe and is readily cultivated in our greenhouses and gardens, mainly due to the ability to quickly settle vegetatively and cover the free area with a green decorative carpet.

The main difference between the nettles in the order system is the orthotropic and banal or almost basal ovule, the direct shovel-shaped embryo and the predominance of herbaceous life forms.

The evolution of the family went mainly along the lines of simplifying the structure of organs and reducing their parts. The features of reduction in nettles are especially clearly manifested in the flower: the gynoecium has completely lost its dimeric structure, and the number of flower parts can also be reduced to the limit. In the Forscaoleaceae tribe, for example, the male flower usually consists of one stamen surrounded by a perianth, the female flower contains only the gynoecium, its perianth is completely reduced, less often an undivided perianth develops. Inflorescences of nettles of the primate type are diverse in shape: capitate, paniculate, catkin-shaped. Sometimes they are bisexual and contain one - several female and several male flowers, more often the inflorescences are unisexual.

In most nettles, the most common method of distributing fruits is zoochory, however, in a number of species of elatostema and Pilea (Pilea), the fruits are peculiarly catapulted, and staminodes play the role of a catapult. During the pollination of flowers, staminodes are barely noticeable, and only by the time of fruiting do they significantly increase in size. At this time, the staminodes are bent inwards and support the fetus partially hanging over them (Fig. 148). As soon as a separating layer forms on the stalk and the connection between the fruit and the plant weakens, the staminodes straighten with force and eject (catapult) the fruit. In this case, the fruits fly off at a distance of 25-100 m from the mother plant. However, in most stinging nettles, zoochory remains the most common way of fruit dispersal.

Nettles very often reproduce vegetatively by rooting stems, underground stolons, root suckers, tubers, etc. In herbaceous succulents, this method of reproduction often prevails over seed.

Nettle leaves are simple, as a rule, with 3 veins at the base, one of their characteristic features is the abundance of cystoliths - whitish formations impregnated with calcium carbonate (Fig. 148). The shape of cystoliths (dotted, rod-shaped, oval, sickle-shaped, club-shaped, stellate, F-shaped, etc.) is more or less constant for certain taxa and often serves as a good diagnostic feature in the taxonomy of species and genera of the family.

The most well-known in the family are representatives of the nettle tribe, which unites burning plants. The Latin name of the tribe Urticeae (as well as Urtica, Urlicaceae and Urlicales), derived from the word uro - burning, was given to it for the many burning hairs covering the leaves and stems of plants. Stinging nettle hairs have stinging cells (up to 100 stinging cells per 1 mg of its mass), containing a caustic liquid of complex chemical composition; it contains histamine, acetylcholine, formic acid. A burning hair looks like a capillary tube ending in a small rounded head (Fig. 147). The upper part of the hair becomes silicified and breaks off when touched, the sharp edges of the hair pierce the skin, and the contents of the stinging cell are injected into the wound. As a result, there is a painful burning sensation - a nettle burn.

Burns inflicted by tropical representatives of the tribe, especially arboreal laportees, sometimes lead to serious consequences. The stinging action of the strong-burning Laportea (Laportea urentissima), which grows in Southeast Asia, is so strong that it can cause the death of a child. The arboreal laportees of the Philippines are also notorious: the Luzon laporte (L. luzonensis) and the semi-closed laporte (L. subclausa). Incredibly painful action of the burning hairs of the Australian giant laportee (L. gigas) - a large tree from the tropical rainforests of Northeast Australia; the pain from her burn often leads to fainting and is felt for several months. The same burns, accompanied by tumors of the lymph nodes, are caused by the Australian succulent mulberry mulberry, which grows in our greenhouses as a herbaceous plant, and the light-leaved shrub (L. photiniphylla) from the Fiji Islands, from New Caledonia and Australia. Burns of the sultry laportee (L. aestuans) - a small creeping herbaceous plant of the Antilles - are unpleasant. The touch of the herbaceous Girardinia heterophylla (Girarclinia heterophylla), common in Indochina, is very painful.

Burning hairs protect the plant from being eaten by animals, but, of course, they do not save it from all enemies. The leaves of the Australian arboreal laportea, for example, turned out to be harmless to cattle, the leaves of nettles eat snails with impunity, etc. It is not surprising, therefore, to see additional protective devices in plants. Upepa berry, for example, in addition to burning hairs, develops many spines on the shoots, in addition, it is one of the few nettles that have milky juice. Laportey and nettles also have milky, but they contain a colorless liquid, and not milky juice, like most mulberries.

By the number of species, the tribe is dominated by the genus nettle (Urtica), containing approximately 50 species of herbaceous plants, and the tropical genus Urera (35 species), represented by different life forms: herbaceous plants, shrubs, softwood trees and lianas, the latter include most African types. In the USSR, of the tribe Urticeae, only nettle species are widespread (Fig. 147). Everyone knows the nettle as a burning weed, but not everyone knows that the common nettle (U. dioica) is the most useful plant of our temperate flora (Fig. 147). It is rich in vitamins A, C, K and mineral salts, its leaves and young shoots are edible, they are used raw (mashed) and boiled. In folk medicine, it is successfully used as a hemostatic agent for internal bleeding, as well as for beriberi. Nettle seeds are rich in oil, the leaves are successfully used for feeding silkworms, yellow is obtained from the roots, and green paint is obtained from the leaves. Since ancient times, nettle has been known as a spinning plant; in the past, it was a common raw material for making fabrics in a handicraft way. The bactericidal effect of nettle is well known to fishermen, and they use it to preserve fresh fish (the insides of the fish are taken out and stuffed with nettles).

Stinging nettle (U. urens) - a smaller and more burning annual plant (Fig. 147) - is a constant companion of human housing - dioica nettle - is cosmopolitanly distributed; stinging nettle (U. urens) also has a cosmopolitan range. These plants also differ in the nature of the distribution of flowers: in stinging nettle, both male and female flowers are placed on the same plant, in dioecious nettle, usually on different plants. Hemp nettle (U. cannabina, Fig. 147) sharply differs from them in 3-5-separated leaves, similar to hemp leaves. Its range passes through the Asian part of the USSR, Mongolia, Japan and China. Another peculiar type of nettle is ball-bearing nettle (U. pilulifera) - a small bluish plant with whole leaves and spherical inflorescences on long legs located in their axils. Its range covers the Mediterranean, in our country it grows in the Crimea and the Caucasus, occasionally meeting in the south of the European part of the USSR.

In addition to nettles, in the USSR from this tribe there are occasionally spiky girardinia (Girardinia cuspidata) and bulbous laportea (Laportea bulbifera), in the axils of the leaves of the latter, fleshy tubers develop, with the help of which it propagates vegetatively. Both species are common in the Far East. These are tall herbaceous plants with stinging, nettle-like hairs.

The largest prokris tribe includes more than 700 species of mostly herbaceous, often succulent plants, living mainly under the canopy of tropical rain forests or in moist habitats in semi-deciduous tropical forests - near streams, under rocks, in gorges. The pantropical genus Pilea (about 400 species) predominates in the tribe, uniting herbaceous plants with intraaxillary fused stipules, predominantly 3-lobed perianth in female flowers (Fig. 148) and distinct cystoliths of various shapes on leaves and stems.

The genus Elatostema is widespread in the tropics of the Old World, including (together with Pellionia) about 300 species of herbaceous plants. The small (16-20 species) paleotropic genus Prokris is very close to it; its representatives, predominantly herbaceous or shrubby epiphytes with succulent leaves and stems, grow on the trunks and lower branches of trees. Prokris are common on the islands of Indonesia and the Philippines, but in general, the range of the genus extends from tropical Africa, through the tropics of Southeast Asia, the islands of Micronesia and the Solomon Islands to Polynesia.

In the USSR (in the Far East), 3 types of pili with crosswise opposite leaves grow from prokris. This is a small (up to 7 cm high) round-leaved pilea (Pilea rotundifolia), Japanese pilea (P. japonica), also common in Japan and China, and perennial herbaceous Mongolian pilea (P. mongolica), growing in Transbaikalia.

Pili species and other members of this tribe are best known to us as graceful, widely cultivated ornamental plants. Particularly noteworthy are the variegated forms, climbing plants with reddish leaves - small herbaceous succulents, similar in habit to a tree (Table 39). This is a small-leaved pilea (P. microphylla) - an American plant widely used as an ornamental and in the Old World. In Southeast Asia, in addition, the sour shoots of this pili are eaten.

The Bemeriaceae tribe has a pantropical distribution (only a few species enter areas of a warm temperate climate) and unites about 16 genera and about 250 species, mostly herbaceous plants with characteristic large and usually large-toothed leaves arranged oppositely crosswise. In the axils of the leaves are capitate or catkin-shaped inflorescences. In some tropical bemerias, the filamentous axes of female inflorescences sometimes reach a length of 50-100 cm and look like lichen beards, more often the flowers are collected on the axis of the inflorescence in separate spherical heads, which is why the general inflorescence looks like a string of beads.

There are many spinning plants among the bemeriaceae, and the most valuable of them is ramie (Boehmeria nivea) - a large herbaceous plant with whole, white-silver leaves below. Silky fiber is obtained from its bast, which is used to make a variety of woven fabrics. The fibers of ramie are several times longer than those of other spinning plants, they reach 500 mm. Rami comes from China, but has long been cultivated in many countries, including the USSR (mainly in Asia and the Caucasus), and has not lost its importance in the textile industry. Fibers of green bemeria (B. viridis) and representatives of some other genera of the tribe (pipturus - Pipturus, mautia - Maoutia, puzolsia - Pouzolzia, leukosike - Leucosyke) are also used for yarn.

A small tribe of Forscaoleaceae, consisting of 3 genera, has long attracted the attention of researchers with extremely reduced flowers, outwardly not at all similar to nettle flowers. Their medium-sized few-flowered inflorescences are also peculiar: they are enclosed in a wrapper that imitates the perianth, and look like separate flowers.

A small tribe of stennitsa (5 genera and about 30 species), the most advanced in the nettle family, includes herbaceous and shrubby plants with entire, mostly alternate leaves, their inflorescences are one- or many-flowered, often with wrappers, the perianth of the female flowers is tubular.

There are many pioneer plants among the walls, and weeds are not uncommon. Their seeds are usually spread by animals. The seeds of the Lusitanian wallflower (P. lusitanica) are carried by ants, they harvest the fruits of this plant for the sake of elaiosomes - oily appendages, into which the bases of its perianths turn.

1. Characteristics of the nettle family

nettle medicinal plant

Nettle family - URTICACEAE

Systematic position

In traditional taxonomy, the family has its own order - nettles (Urticales):

Department of flowering (angiospermous) plants (Magnoliophyta, Angiospermophyta)

Dicot class (Magnoliopsida, Dicotyledones)

Subclass Hamamelid (Hamamelididae)

Order Nettles (Urticales)

Elm family (Ulmaceae)

Mulberry family (Moraceae)

Cannabis family (Cannabaceae)

Cecropia family (Cecropiaceae)

Nettle family (Urticaceae)

Nettles include about 60 genera and more than 1000 plant species, distributed mainly in the tropics. They grow mainly in the temperate zone in the Northern and (less often) Southern hemispheres.

The main difference between nettles in the order system is the orthotropic and basal or almost basal ovule, straight spatulate embryo and the predominance of herbaceous life forms, less often shrubs, softwood trees and lianas, the latter include most African species.

Nettle leaves are simple, usually with 3 veins at the base, one of their characteristic features is the abundance of cystoliths - whitish formations impregnated with calcium carbonate. The shape of cystoliths (dotted, rod-shaped, oval, sickle-shaped, club-shaped, stellate, F-shaped, etc.) is more or less constant for certain taxa and often serves as a good diagnostic feature in the taxonomy of species and genera of the family.

The leaves of primitive forms of nettles are located on the shoots crosswise opposite, in more advanced forms, the leaf arrangement can change to two-row, due to the reduction of one leaf in each pair of opposite leaves. There are many intermediate stages along the way of this transition. Most often, one of the opposite leaves does not disappear completely, but only decreases in size, and then we are faced with a very characteristic phenomenon for nettles - anisophydlia - the development in one node of leaves of unequal size, and sometimes in shape.

Inflorescences of nettles of the primate type, diverse in shape: capitate, paniculate, catkin-shaped. Sometimes they are bisexual and contain one - several female and several male flowers, more often the inflorescences are unisexual.

The evolution of the family went mainly along the lines of simplifying the structure of organs and reducing their parts. The features of reduction in nettles are especially clearly manifested in the flower: the gynoecium has completely lost its dimeric structure, and the number of flower parts can also be reduced to the limit. In the Forscaoleaceae tribe, for example, the male flower usually consists of one stamen surrounded by a perianth, the female flower contains only the gynoecium, its perianth is completely reduced, less often an undivided perianth develops.

Nettles are wind pollinated plants. Their stamens in the buds are usually bent inwards, but by the time of pollination, the filaments immediately straighten out, the anthers crack from the shock and throw out pollen. This adaptation for dispersing pollen is a characteristic feature of nettles.

Nettle fruits are small, dry (nutty), but in some species they are surrounded by a juicy cover of a fleshy calyx that has grown after flowering, which makes the fruit look like a drupe or berry.

Nettles bear fruit profusely, and in some species seeds can develop asexually as a result of apomixis. For example, in a number of species of elatostema (Elatostema acuminatum, E. sessile) there are almost no male flowers, however, female flowers produce fruits with full-fledged seeds. Observations on the formation of seeds have shown that in these plants the micropyle overgrows long before the maturation of the embryo sac and the embryo arises from an unreduced ovum without pollination and without fertilization.

In most nettles, the most common method of fruit distribution is zoochory, however, in a number of species of Elatostema and Pilea (Pilea), the fruits are peculiarly catapulted, and the role of the catapult is played by staminodes. During the pollination of flowers, staminodes are barely noticeable, and only by the time of fruiting do they significantly increase in size. At this time, the staminodes are bent inward and support the fetus partially hanging over them. As soon as a separating layer forms on the stalk and the connection between the fruit and the plant weakens, the staminodes straighten with force and eject (catapult) the fruit. In this case, the fruits fly off at a distance of 25-100 m from the mother plant. However, in most stinging nettles, zoochory remains the most common way of fruit dispersal.

Nettles very often reproduce vegetatively by rooting stems, underground stolons, root suckers, tubers, etc. In herbaceous succulents, this method of reproduction often prevails over seed.

The family is usually subdivided into 5 tribes: nettle proper (Urticeae), prokris (Procrideae), bemeria (Boehmerieae), forskaolee (Forsskaoleae) and posttennitsa (Parietarieae).

According to the number of species in the tribe, the genus nettle (Urtica) predominates, containing approximately 50 representatives of the nettle tribe, which unites burning plants, are the most well-known in the family. The Latin name of the tribe Urticeae (as well as Urtica, Urticaceae and Urticales), derived from the word uro - burning, is given to it for the many burning hairs covering the leaves and stems of plants. Stinging nettle hairs have stinging cells (up to 100 stinging cells per 1 mg of its mass), containing a caustic liquid of complex chemical composition; it contains histamine, acetylcholine, formic acid. The burning hair looks like a capillary tube ending in a small rounded head. The upper part of the hair becomes silicified and breaks off when touched, the sharp edges of the hair pierce the skin, and the contents of the stinging cell are injected into the wound. As a result, there is a painful burning sensation - a nettle burn.

Representatives: nettle (Urtica), laportea (Laportea), girardinia (Girardinia), urera (Urera).

Prokris tribe (Procrideae)

The largest tribe in the family, includes more than 700 species of herbaceous, rarely succulent plants, usually living under the canopy of the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, in wet habitats, near streams, in rock crevices and gorges.

Representatives: Pilea (Pilaea), Elastosoma (Elastosoma), Pelionia (Pelionia).

Tribe Bemeriaceae (Boehmerieae)

Pantropical tribe, uniting 16 genera and about 250 species of herbaceous plants with large serrated, oppositely crossed leaves. Inflorescences develop in leaf axils. The tribe contains many spinning plants with very long fibers.

Representatives: ramie (Boehmeria), pipturus (Pipturus), mautia (Maoutia), puzolzia (Pouzolzia), leucosyke (Leucosyke).

Tribe Forskaleae (Forsskaoleae)

The most archaic and interesting group of nettles from an evolutionary point of view, very specialized. Analysis of the ranges suggests that all three genera have existed for at least 75 million years, and were part of the Cretaceous subtropical flora of the coasts and islands of the ancient Tethys Sea.

Representatives: australina (Australina), drogetia (Drougetia), forscalea (Forsskaolea).

Tribe parietarieae

A small (5 genera and about 30 species) group, the most advanced in the family, includes herbaceous and shrubby plants with entire, mostly alternate leaves. There are many pioneer plants and weeds among the walls. Distribution - Southern Europe, Mediterranean, Transcaucasia.

Representatives: parietaria, zhesnuinia (Gesnouinia), gemistilis (Hemistylis), russelia (Rousselia), soleirolia (Soleirolia).

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General information about nettles

Nettles (lat. Urticaceae) are annual and perennial herbs or shrubs, occasionally climbing. More than 50 genera and about 1000 species distributed mainly in the tropics. The most famous representatives are nettles, which have extremely strong stinging properties of laportea, as well as pyrea and saline common in room culture. Nettle, a genus of herbs in the nettle family. Stems and leaves are covered with stinging hairs. 40-50 species, mainly in the temperate zones of the Northern and (rarely) Southern hemispheres. Perennial stinging nettle and annual stinging nettle are widespread. The leaves are rich in vitamins. Young nettle shoots are used for soups and salads, for food livestock and a bird. Medicinal plant.

Botanical description. The leaves are entire, opposite or alternate, often covered, like the stem, with burning hairs, equipped with stipules. The leaf arrangement in primitive forms is crosswise opposite, in more advanced forms it is two-row-alternate due to the reduction of one leaf in each pair of opposite leaves. Often this leaf does not disappear completely, in which case anisophilia characteristic of the family is observed. Flowers unisexual, monoecious or dioecious. The perianth is poorly developed, sometimes it is not at all. Inflorescences are usually unisexual, various in shape - capitate, paniculate, catkin-shaped. Before pollination, the filaments of the stamens are tightly coiled; their sharp straightening leads to the release of pollen. The stamens in the bud are wrapped inward and deploy elastically, and the anthers burst, throwing out dust in the form of a cloud. This is especially pronounced in the genus Pilea. The ovary contains one straight ovule. The fruits are usually small, dry (nut-like), but some are fleshy, berry-like. In laportea mulberry (Laportea moroides) - similar to raspberries. The fruit is a sac with one seed.
Nettle subfamily (Urticeae). The most well-known members of the family. Burns inflicted by tropical representatives of the tribe, especially Laporteans, can even lead to fainting, death, and are felt for many months. However, despite this, laportees are defenseless against cattle, and the berry-bearing Urera (Urera baccata) even develops many spines. Representatives: Nettles (Urtica), Laportea (Laportea), Girardinia (Girardinia), Urera (Urera).

The Procrideae subfamily includes more than 700 species of herbaceous, rarely succulent plants, usually living under the canopy of the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, in humid habitats, near streams, in rock crevices and gorges. Representatives: Pilea (Pilaea), elastosomes (Elastosoma), Pelionia (Pelionia).
The subfamily Bemeriaceae (Boehmerieae) unites 16 genera and about 250 species of herbaceous plants with large serrated, oppositely arranged leaves. Inflorescences develop in leaf axils. The tribe contains many spinning plants with very long fibers. Representatives: Rami (Boehmeria), Pipturus (Pipturus), Mautia (Maoutia), Puzolzia (Pouzolzia), Leucosyke (Leucosyke)
Subfamily Forskaoleae (Forsskaoleae). The most archaic, interesting from an evolutionary point of view, a group of nettles, very specialized. Analysis of the ranges suggests that all three genera have existed for at least 75 million years, and were part of the Cretaceous subtropical flora of the coasts and islands of the ancient Tethys Sea. Representatives: Australina (Australina), drogetii (Drougetia), forskaolei (Forsskaolea).
Subfamily parietarieae. A small (5 genera and about 30 species) group, the most advanced in the family, includes herbaceous and shrubby plants with entire, mostly alternate leaves. There are many pioneer plants and weeds among the walls. Distribution - Southern Europe, Mediterranean, Transcaucasia. Representatives: Parietaria, Gesnouinia, Hemistylis, Rousselia, Soleirolia.

The most common genera of the nettle family are:
Nettle (Urtica)
Laportea (Laportea)
Pilea (Pilea)
Wallflower (Parietaria)
Rami (Boehmeria)
Soleirolia (Soleirolia)
Urera (Urera)

Healing properties and use in folk medicine. Nettle has been used as a medicinal plant since ancient times. About nettle how about medicinal plant Ibn Sina also wrote, “Crushed nettle leaves stop bleeding from the nose ..., a medicinal dressing (from nettle) with salt helps to reduce nerves ... Nettle seed eliminates asthma, stagnant breathing and cold pleurisy.” Russian medicine used nettle as early as the 17th century and highly valued it as a good hemostatic agent. In scientific medicine, nettle is used as a hemostatic agent in the form of a decoction, infusion, fresh juice and powder for uterine, pulmonary, renal, intestinal, hemorrhoidal bleeding, and hypovitaminosis. Nettle preparations are also used for atherosclerosis, anemia, cholecystitis, gastric ulcer and duodenum, for the treatment of non-healing purulent wounds and ulcers, for the normalization of the ovarian-menstrual cycle, with dysentery, anemia. Nettle good remedy from spring fatigue, improves metabolism, increases the body's resistance. It can be used as an antidiabetic agent due to the presence of secretin in it, which stimulates the production of insulin. Allocholum contains nettle extract along with garlic extract, dry animal bile and activated charcoal. Used as a choleretic and laxative 1-2 tablets 3 times a day after meals.

FAMILY NETTLE - URTICACEAE

Nettles include about 60 genera and over 1000 species plants found mainly in the tropics.

The main difference of nettles in the order system is the orthotropic and basal or almost basal ovule, direct shovel-shaped embryo and the predominance of grassy life forms , less often bushes , trees with soft wood and creepers, the latter include most African species.

Leaves stinging nettles are simple, as a rule, with 3 veins at the base, one of their characteristic features is the abundance of cystoliths - whitish formations impregnated with calcium carbonate. The shape of cystoliths (dotted, rod-shaped, oval, sickle-shaped, club-shaped, stellate, F-shaped, etc.) is more or less constant for certain taxa and often serves as a good diagnostic feature in the taxonomy of species and genera of the family.
The leaves of primitive forms of nettles are located on the shoots crosswise opposite, in more advanced forms, the leaf arrangement can change to two-row, due to the reduction of one leaf in each pair of opposite leaves. There are many intermediate stages along the way of this transition. Most often, one of the opposite leaves does not disappear completely, but only decreases in size, and then we are faced with a very characteristic phenomenon for nettles - anisophydlia - the development in one node of unequal in size, and sometimes in shape of leaves.

inflorescences nettles of the primate type, varied in shape: capitate, paniculate, catkin-shaped. Sometimes they are bisexual and contain one - several female and several male flowers, more often the inflorescences are unisexual.

The evolution of the family went mainly along the lines of simplifying the structure of organs and reducing their parts. The features of reduction in stinging nettles are especially pronounced in flower: the gynoecium has completely lost the dimerism of the structure, the number of flower parts can also be reduced to the limit. In the Forscaoleaceae tribe, for example, the male flower usually consists of one stamen surrounded by a perianth, the female flower contains only the gynoecium, its perianth is completely reduced, less often an undivided perianth develops.

Nettles - wind pollinated plants. Their stamens in the buds are usually bent inwards, but by the time of pollination, the filaments immediately straighten out, the anthers crack from the shock and throw out pollen. This adaptation for dispersing pollen is a characteristic feature of nettles.

Fruit nettles are small, dry (nutty), but in some species they are surrounded by a juicy cover from a fleshy calyx that has grown after flowering, which makes the fruit look like a drupe or berry.
Nettles bear fruit profusely, and in some species seeds can develop asexually as a result of apomixis. For example, in a number of elatostema species ( Elatostema acuminatum, E. sessile) there are almost no male flowers, however, female flowers produce fruits with full-fledged seeds. Observations on the formation of seeds have shown that in these plants the micropyle overgrows long before the maturation of the embryo sac and the embryo arises from an unreduced ovum without pollination and without fertilization.

In most stinging nettles, the most common distribution method fruits is zoochory, however, in a number of species of elatostema and pilea ( Pilea) the fruits catapult in a peculiar way, and the role of the catapult is played by staminodes. During the pollination of flowers, staminodes are barely noticeable, and only by the time of fruiting do they significantly increase in size. At this time, the staminodes are bent inward and support the fetus partially hanging over them. As soon as a separating layer forms on the stalk and the connection between the fruit and the plant weakens, the staminodes straighten with force and eject (catapult) the fruit. In this case, the fruits fly off at a distance of 25-100 m from the mother plant. However, in most stinging nettles, zoochory remains the most common way of fruit dispersal.

nettles very often multiply vegetatively by rooting stems, underground stolons, root suckers, tubers, etc. In herbaceous succulents, this method of reproduction often prevails over seed.

The family is usually subdivided into 5 tribes: nettle proper ( Urticeae), procris ( Procrideae), bemeric ( Boehmerieae), forskooleic ( Forsskaoleae) and wall-mounted ( parietarieae).

The most well known in the family representatives nettle tribes , uniting burning plants. Latin name of the tribe Urticeae(as well as Urtica, Urticaceae and Urticales), a derivative of the word uro - burning, is given to her for the many burning hairs covering the leaves and stems of plants. Stinging nettle hairs have stinging cells (up to 100 stinging cells per 1 mg of its mass), containing a caustic liquid of complex chemical composition; it contains histamine, acetylcholine, formic acid. The burning hair looks like a capillary tube ending in a small rounded head. The upper part of the hair becomes silicified and breaks off when touched, the sharp edges of the hair pierce the skin, and the contents of the stinging cell are injected into the wound. As a result, there is a painful burning sensation - a nettle burn.
Burning hairs protect the plant from being eaten by animals, but, of course, they do not save it from all enemies. The leaves of the Australian arboreal laportea, for example, turned out to be harmless to cattle, the leaves of nettles eat snails with impunity, etc. It is not surprising, therefore, to see additional protective devices in plants. Urera berry, for example, in addition to burning hairs, develops many spines on the shoots, in addition, it is one of the few nettles that have milky juice. Laportey and nettles also have milky, but they contain a colorless liquid, and not milky juice, like most mulberries.

The genus predominates in the number of species in the tribe. nettle (Urtica), containing approximately 50 species of herbaceous plants, and the tropical genus urera(35 species), represented by different life forms: herbaceous plants, shrubs, softwood trees and vines, the latter include most African species. In Russia from the tribe Urticeae only species of nettles are widespread.

Everyone knows nettle as a burning weed, but not everyone knows that the common stinging nettle (U. dioica) - most useful a plant of our temperate flora. It is rich in vitamins A, C, K and mineral salts, its leaves and young shoots are edible, they are used raw (mashed) and boiled. In folk medicine, it is successfully used as a hemostatic agent for internal bleeding, as well as for beriberi. Nettle seeds are rich in oil, the leaves are successfully used for feeding silkworms, yellow is obtained from the roots, and green paint is obtained from the leaves. Since ancient times, nettle has been known as a spinning plant; in the past, it was a common raw material for making fabrics in a handicraft way. The bactericidal effect of nettle is well known to fishermen, and they use it to preserve fresh fish (the insides of the fish are taken out and stuffed with nettles).
The constant companion of human habitation - stinging nettle - is distributed cosmopolitanly, stinging nettle also has a cosmopolitan area ( U.urens) is a smaller and more pungent annual plant. These plants also differ in the nature of the distribution of flowers: in stinging nettle, both male and female flowers are placed on the same plant, in dioecious nettle, usually on different plants. Sharply differs from them in 3-5-separate leaves, similar to hemp leaves, hemp nettle ( U. cannabina). Its range passes through the Asian part of Russia, Mongolia, Japan and China. Another peculiar type of nettle is ball-bearing nettle ( U. pilulifera) - a small bluish plant with whole leaves and spherical inflorescences located in their axils on long legs. Its range covers the Mediterranean, in our country it grows in the Crimea and the Caucasus, occasionally meeting in the south of the European part of Russia.
In addition to nettles, in Russia, from this tribe, girardinia spiky is occasionally found ( Girardinia cuspidata) and bulbous laportea ( laportea bulbifera), in the axils of the leaves of the latter, fleshy tubers develop, with the help of which it propagates vegetatively. Both species are common in the Far East. These are tall herbaceous plants with stinging, nettle-like hairs.

Meet to morphological structure of the flower and inflorescence You can on the page "Handbook of the morphology of herbaceous plants" .

And on the website of the Ecological Center "Ecosystem" you can get acquainted with the distribution of species of herbaceous plants by ecological groups and habitats (biotopes) of central Russia: