Kazan — summer 2012

Russians love plants. Windowsills tend to be very wide in Russia, and they often have potted plants on them. When walking through the hallway, one of our teachers spotted this pot and started laughing.

The little plant growing on the left apparently got in there as a weed. It's a stinging nettle. Galina tells me that it will raise blisters on the skin, and that in the old days people would sometimes punish kids by thrashing them with nettles.

Weirdly enough, once steamed they are safe to eat. Some people make nettle tea. Aparently it has an antihistamine effect, which is weird when you consider that it also causes uticaria.