542 UKTICACE.^ (Brown). 



**Fhaits without stinging hairs, 



r 



t Flowers all free, none enclosed in an involucre. 



IV. Pilea. — Zcrtrf 5 opposite. Perianth of 2-4 free segments in both sexes. 



8t(nnen$ 2-4, represented by scales or rudiments in the female flowers. 

 Stigma a sessile head- or mop-like tuft of hairs. 



V. Pouzolzia. — Leaves alternate. Perianth of the male flowers 3-5-Iobed, 



of the female flask-shaped and 2-4-toothed at the contracted mouth. 

 Stamens 3-5, not represented in the female flowers. Stigma 

 flliform. 



VI. Australina.— Zfrtres alternate. Perianth of the male flowers bract-like, 



tubular below, obliquely open above, of the female so closely- 

 investing or adnate to the ovary that it appears absent. Stamen 1. 



If Several male and 1-3 female flowers enclosed in an obconic or hemispheric 



involucre, and some female flowers solitary in a 2-lobed or flask- 

 shax>ed involucre. Male flower:^ with a bract-like perianth, tubular 

 below, obliquely open and flattisli or concave above. Stamen 1. 

 Female flowers without a perianth. 



VII. ForskoMea. ^Zcarc5 alternate. Bisexual involucres conspicuously 4-7- 



lobed ; lobes much longer than the flowers. 



VIII. Droguetia. — Z cares alternate or opposite. Bisexual involucres incons-ylcn' 



ouSj shortly toothed ; teeth much shorter than the flowers. y->^ 



*** •■» •■« •*• «v« 



(2) urens 



Blade of the leaf 2-8 in. lonsr : 



Dried petioles J-§ lin. thick ; teeth entire ; achenes 

 brown, dotted with dark red-brown, scarcely 

 tuberculate (3) Burchellii 



Dried petioles 1 lin. thick ; teeth usually lobed ; 



achenes brown, minutely tuberculate (4) lobulata. 



i 



i 



L URTICA, Linn. 



Flowers unisexual, both sexes on the same or on different plants. 

 PeriantJhsegmcnfs 4, equal and concave in the male, very unequal, 

 flat and becoming enlarged and adpressed to the fruit in the female 

 flowers. Stamens 4, inflexed in bud, absent from the female flowers. 

 Ovary superior, straight, erect, 1-celled, with 1 erect ovule ; in the i 



male flowers very rudimentary and cup-shaped ; stigma sessile or 

 rai^ely on a short style, formed of a small tuft of hair-like papillae, 

 deciduous or persistent. Fruit a compressed achene, ovate, smooth 

 or very minutely tuberculate. 



Annual or perennial herbs, armed "with stinging hairs ; leaves opposite, petiolate, 

 stipulate ; flower-spikes in paira in the axils of the leaves, unisexual or bisexual, 

 simple or branched ; flowers in small dense clusters crowded along the spikes. 



DiSTRiB. Species about 40, widely distributed. 



t 



Teeth of the leaves as broad as or broader than long, 



entire; achenes ^ lin. long, smooth, whitish-ochreous (1) dioica. 



Teeth of the leaves longer than broad, entire or lobed ; 

 achenes nearly or quite 1 lin. long : 

 Blade of the leaf J-*2| in. long ; achenes smooth, light 

 ochraceous 



