What is it That Makes a Nettle Sting?
The leaves of a stinging-nettle are covered with small hairs with sharp, hooked points that will break off when they are lightly touched. But the nettle does not merely prick—it stings. This is because the hairs are filled with an acid which gets under our skin, through the hole made by the point of the hair. This makes our skin uncomfortable. Formis is Latin for “ant,” and this acid is called formic acid because it is found in the bodies of ants. There it probably prevents other animals from eating the ants, because it is not nice to taste. This is one of the thousands of ways in which animals and plants are protected from their enemies – like the poisoned tooth of the serpent, and the inky stuff made by an animal that lives in the sea, which blinds its enemies.
