Elatostema.] CXXXVI. URTICACEZ. (J. D. Hooker.) 568: 
better divisional characters than those here adopted will be found in the form of the 
free or confluent bracts of the male receptacles, but these are difficult of analysis in 
dried ones. The character of peduncled and sessile heads will, I expect, prove very 
deceiving, and be abandoned. The difficulty of describing the form and nervation of 
the leaves is great, from their variability ; and the presence or absence of cystoliths 
on one or both surfaces is not constant in individual specimens of many species. In 
some species the male and fem, receptacles are in different individaals, in others 
im the same, whilst many species are either moncoeious or dicecious, so that I can 
attach no importance to this character. 
. Sect. I. AxpnosycE, Wedd. Male receptacle fleshy, exinvolucrate, fig- 
like, at first closed, latterly bursting irregularly and expanded. 
l. E. ficoides, Wedd. Monogr. 306, t. 10; DC. Prodr. xvi. i. 171; 
leaves 5-9 in. subsessile obliquely oblong or obovate-oblong caudate sharply 
coarsely serrate from the base penninerved sparsely setose above. E. 
Marianne, Clarke in Journ. Linn. Soc. Bot. xv. 114. Procris ficoidea, 
Wall. Cat. 4635. Androsyce indica, Wedd. mss. 
CENTRAL and Eastern HIMALAYA, alt. 4-8000 ft. ; Nepal, Wallich ; ‘Sikkim, 
E &c. Kuasta Mrs., Herb. Calcutt. MUNNIPORE ; on Kohaima, alt. 6000 ft., 
arte, 
Moneecious or diccious, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Stem 4-6 ft., grooved. 
Leaves membranous, brown when dry, base narrowed very unequal, cystoliths very 
minute ; nei ves 3-5 pairs, arched ; stipules oblong-lanceolate. Male recepis pyriform 
or globose, splitting into very unequal lobes, then 1-2 in. diam. ; peduncle 5-6 in., 
stout ; flowers many, large. Fem. recept smaller, sessile, often in pairs. <Achenes 
ellipsoid, acute at both ends, ribbed. 
. Sect. IL ErarosrEMA PROPER. Male receptacle with usually a distinct 
involucre of many bracts, which are more or less free or confluent into a 
fleshy disk with the tips free or not; rarely laciniate (in Æ. dissectum). 
- * Male receptacles sessile or very shortly peduncled, peduncle rarely 
3 1n. long (male recept unknown in E. Walker@ and cuneatum). (See also 
E. papillosum, decipiens, Treutleri and surculosum.) 
t Leaves acuminate or caudate. 
. 2. E. sessile, Forst. Char. Gen. 106; glabrous or pubescent, stem 
Simple, leaves 4-8 in. sessile or shortly petioled membranous obliquely 
oblanceolate or oblong caudate coarsely serrate from the base to the tip, 
recepts sessile or shortly peduncled, invol. bracts of male free broadly ovate 
or rounded coriaceous. Wedd. Monogr. 294, t. 9, £. 9; DC. Prodr. xvi, i. 
173. .E. serratum, Forst. mss. E. pubescens, Pers. Synops. ii, 557. 
Procris sessilis, Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beech. Voy. 70. P. australis, Spreng. 
Syst. iii. 846. 
TEMPERATE and SUBTROPICAL HIMALAYA, from Chamba eastwards ; alt. 
4-8000 ft. Assam, Sinner, the Knasra and Naga Hiris. PENANG, Curtis; 
* Perak, King’s Collector, Ninamimr Hiris, Wight, &c. CEYLON, Rambodde, alt. 
ft. — DisTRIB. China, Japan, Malay and Pacific Islands, Trop. Africa. " 
Stem 1-2 ft., usually prostrate and rooting below. Leaves greenish when dry, 
Cystoliths very abundant especially above. Recepts solitary or 2-3, rarely more in 
each axil, 41 in, diam. ; peduncle rarely }in., of fem. ebracteate ; bracteoles very 
minute, villous, hyaline. ' Achenes very minute, ellipsoid, acute at both ends, ribbed.— 
he Australian plant referred here by Weddell is by Bentham regarded as a different 
Species. W, sessile is a very variable plant ; the following are the principal but ill- 
defined forms, 
