Nettles

Long-stemmed plants with serrated leaves, nettles can grow to be more than two metres (up to seven feet) tall. Many varieties are covered in poisonous hairs that can raise a painful and unpleasant rash (and so these plants are often known as 'stinging nettles'). Nettles are often among the first plants to appear in places that have been abandoned or ruined, and so it was not surprising that Frodo and his companions discovered them growing thickly in the Bonfire Glade in the Old Forest. That had been the place of a great burning of trees by the Hobbits, and years later it was found to be covered not only in tall nettles, but other opportunistic plants such as fire-weed and thistles.