Urtica.| CXXIIIp. URTICACEH (Rendle). 243 
long; stipules free, triangular, ciliolate. Inflorescences ascending 
or spreading, usually shorter than the petiole, bearing male and 
female flowers, the female flowers more numerous than the male, 
pedicels very short, about 4 lin. long. Male flowers with spreading 
perianth-segments, about. 1} lin. across; filaments about equal in 
length to or slightly exceeding the segments. Female flowers ; 
outer segments minute, about half the length of the broad ovate 
inner segments which are about 3 lin. long and bear a few stiff hairs 
on the apex and margin and a larger median dorsal stinging hair. 
Achene compressed-ovoid, obtuse, pale brown, about 1 lin. long, 
enveloped in the membranous persistent inner perianth-segments.— 
Hochst. ex A. Rich. Tent. Fl. Abyss. ii. 260; Wedd. in DC. Prodr. 
xvi. i. 40; Engl. Hochgebirgsfl. Trop. Afr. 192; Almagia in Ann. 
Istit. Bot. Roma, viii. 117. 
Nile Land. Eritrea: Saganeiti, 7300 ft., Schweinfurth & Riva, 1262! Assa- 
orta, Scotti ; Amasen, Ghinda-Baresa at 3250 ft., Terracciano & Pappi, 81, 82. 
Abyssinia : by dwellings ; Jenausa, Schimper, 843! Asfaha, 8000 ft., Schimper, 
663! Galla Highlands, Steudner, 1339. Somaliland: without locality, Lort 
Phillips! Habrawal, Gan Liban, 5800 and 5900 ft., Donaldson Smith ! 
A widely distributed weed of cultivation. 
2. U. simensis, Hochst. ex Steud. in Flora, 1850, 259. Dicecious, 
perennial from a woody rhizome about 4 in. thick ; stem erect, woody 
and rooting below, hollow, 5 lin. or less in thickness, finely pubescent, 
ultimately becoming glabrous, hirsute, especially in the younger 
parts, with spreading white stinging hairs, up to 4 ft. high. Leaves 
petioled, membranous, ovate, apex generally broadly acuminate, 
base cordate, margin grossly serrate, 5-nerved from the base, the 
lower pair of nerves weak, 2-34 in. long, 13-23 in. wide, surface 
obscurely dotted with cystoliths, pubescent and with a few short 
stinging hairs especially beneath and on the veins ; petiole more or 
less beset with stinging hairs, 1-1} in. long ; stipules free, herbaceous, 
broadly ovate-triangular, }-} in. long. Inflorescences erect, longer 
than the petioles. Female flowers in dense clusters arranged race- 
mosely on the main axis; outer pair of perianth-segments minute, 
broadly ovate, glabrous, inner pair broadly elliptic, $ lin. long, 
glabrous, with 1-3 large dorsal stinging hairs. Achene compressed, 
ovate, pale brown, a little over 1 lin. long, enveloped in the per- 
sistent dry membranous inner perianth-segments.—A. Rich. Tent. 
Fl. Abyss. ii. 260; Wedd. in DC. Prodr. xvi. i. 54; Engl. Hochge- 
birgsfl. Trop. Afr. 192. ae 
i inia: Dibill and mountain villages, 8200-11 ,000 ft., Schim- 
per, ‘lesen Ck ea aes Sekar 1284! oat Abbena, on the Ataba, 
Steudner, 1343! on the Ghaba River, Steudner, 1331; Gondar, Steudner, 1338 ; 
Etchel Tat, Quartin-Dillon & Petit, 81! and without precise locality, Schimper, 
743! British East Africa: Ruwenzori, 7000-8000 ft., Dawe, 723! Kivata, 
8600 ft., Scott Elliot, 7739 partly! Uganda : Entebbe, at 3900 ft., Brown, 385 ! 
Aberdare Mountains, James! Karagwe, Speke & Grant, 470 ! 
Eaten as a pot herb, Native name in Abyssinia, Sama. 
