Redundant terms emphasize the qualities which are exhibited by the tangible item or the abstract concept represented. This grammatical technique is meant to immediately accentuate the traits, be they positive or negative.
For example almost everyone has some idea of how honey tastes: sweet. However there are those who must accentuate this quality by identifying a product or action as “honey sweet”.
This linguistic stress punctuates the clear and extreme qualities on display. Florida has an excellent example of this practice in the common name of a universally unwanted weed.
Bright green leaves and dainty white flowers hide the potential for sudden pain and lasting irritation. Stinging nettles are actively growing and blooming in many untended sites in north Florida.
The diminutive and somewhat delicate stinging nettle is actively growing in the late summer moisture. Cnidoscolus stimulosus, as this plant is botanically known, is a native weed in the southeastern U.S.
The translation to English of this formal name is indicative of its traits. It literally means nettle or thorn which prods.
The habitats usually are sandy coastal plains, but not in continuously saturated soils. This herb will grow in sun or shade, but flourishes in filtered light.
This bright green perennial plant stands erect on an herbaceous stem. In extreme cases this weed can grow to about three feet in height, but is usually about 12 to 18 inches tall.
The leaves are similar in appearance to the turkey oak with three to five lobes or segments. The foliage is coarsely toothed and on the end of relatively long stems.
This plant produces white blooms in clusters with five peddles on each flower. Easily noticed when in contrast with the remainder of this weed, the blooms are about half an inch wide.
Contrary to its fragile appearance, this hardy plant can bloom any month in the relatively warm climates of north Florida. The flowers result in a three-part seed pod, each containing a seed.
As they mature and dry, the pods shatter and distribute the tiny seed. They are easily moved by a heavy rain or stormy winds.
With the year round potential for blooming, each plant can produce over a hundred seed annually. Unless a weather event carries the seed far afield, one plant will soon produce a thicket of these weeds.
The most undesirable feature of the stinging nettle is its above ground presence. The leaves, stems, seedpods and even flowers are covered with sharp stiff hairs which will cause intense itching if they come into contact with skin.
In contemporary landscapes this plant is commonly removed from the landscape, usually with heavy garden gloves but never barehanded. A few unlucky people can have a severe reaction to the caustic compound contained in the hairs.
Needless to say, this plant is not good grazing material for livestock or wild mammals. As such it is commonly sprayed with broadleaf herbicides in pastures and fields to prevent its spread.
Curiously, there was a time in days past where this plant provided an important contribution to frontier diets. The tap roots can be cooked as a substitute for potatoes, and is alleged to taste like pasta.
Caution has to be taken not to touch the upper part of this nettlesome weed. Likely potatoes were returned to the dining table when they became available.
With the quite literal common name, very few tempt fate by deliberately touching this plant. Those who do cannot say they were not warned of the results.
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