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Nettle is the common name for any of between 30-45 species of flowering plants of the genus Urtica in the family Urticaceae. The most prominent member of the genus is the stinging nettle Urtica dioica, native to Europe, north Africa, Asia, and North America.
In places where stinging nettles are abundant, such as Northern Europe, every child learns quickly to fear and avoid this plant. The concept of being deliberately punished with stinging nettles is therefore extremely fearsome.
Nettles in BDSM play and fiction: Nettles sting with thin, delicate hollow hairs on the stems and leaves. The hairs are like tiny pale bristles and so thin that they bend or collapse when they sting. They break open when touched (each hair stings only once) but nothing is felt unless that touch has actually driven them into the skin. Sideways pressure bends them over and breaks them, and usually wastes the sting.
The recipient is typically restrained and nude (or at minimum, the body part that is to be whipped is bared). Reactions vary, but most spankees show an intense burning irritation, which is also visible as reddening, and a series of little lumps, like small mosquito bites is common. The effect is very similar to the warm feeling that comes just after the sharp pain of a whipstroke fades. While a whipstroke comparatively fades rapidly, the glow can last for hours. As the effect comes from the mere contact with the nettles, not from the force of the blow, and stinging nettles are soft and lightweight, practically any body part can be punished this way, if desired, including the genitals, breasts and similar sensitive areas. People administering diaper discipline may choose to line the bottom's diaper with stinging nettles to enhance their discomfort and humiliation.
Whipping a person with stinging nettles was never anywhere as common as birching or switching. It is described in some autobiograhies and in a few spanking novels and spanking stories. Apparently stinging nettles were quite popular in Theresa Berkley's 19th century establishment.
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