Thursday, 7:00 AM. 56 degrees, wind NNW, light with gusts. The channel is wrinkled, the sky is blue and hazy and the barometer predicts sunshine.
Dead nettle, Lamium albium, in the mint family, is a “dead ringer” for the stinging nettle, Urtica dioica, in the Urticaceae, except for its white flowers. It has evidently evolved to mimic the true nettle, to which it is not at all related, and among which it often grows. In this way it capitalizes on its similarity to a truly noxious plant, thus keeping herbivores and humans at bay. This kind of adaptation is not uncommon in nature, being found among insects, plants and even some animals. The term “dead” refers to the hairs that occur all over the plant but cannot sting, as do the “live” stinging hairs of the true nettle. The dead nettle is prized in England as a bee plant, and has some culinary uses as well.
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