r 



C^rtica.] ueticace.e (Brown). 5i5 



Graaff Reiiiet, 4300 ft., Bolus, 699 ! near Graaff Kcmet, BOOO-iOOO ft., Drege ' 

 Sneuwberg IJaiige, 4000-5000 ft. Dre^e ! Beaufort AVest Div. ; between Zak lUver 

 Poort and Leeuwenfoiiteiia, 3000-4000 ft., Dreje 1 Molteno Div. : Broughtoih w^v 

 MoltenOj Flanagan, 1638 ! 



II. FLEURYA, Gaud. 



n 



Pericinlli-scgments in the male flower 4-5, equal ; in the female 

 flower 4, very unequal, the upper one hooded or concave and the 

 lower flattened, both minute and very inconspicuous, the two 

 lateral much larger, flat, adpressed to the ovary and achene, becom- 

 ing enlarged in fruit, thin or submembranous. Stamens 4-5, 

 absent from the female flowers. Ovary superior, at first nearly 

 straight, soon becoming oblique, 1-celIed, with 1 suberect or 

 oblique ovule ; in the male flowers rudimentary ; stigma linear- 

 fiUform or lanceolate. Fruit a compressed achene^ oblique. ^ 



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

 stipulate ; stipules connate, bifid at the apex ; panicles, cymes or racemosely 

 branched peduncles axillary or subterminal^ solitary, shorter than the leaves ; 

 flowers in small den.^e .scattered clu-stei-s. 



T>iSTB.iB, Species about 13, widely distributed in tropical and subtropical 

 regiona. 



The genus La-portea should, in my opinion, be united with Fleurya. The only 

 •distinction between them is that Fleurya has a tuberculate area on the sides of its 

 achenes, whilst in Laportea the aehenes are smooth, but this character breaks 

 ■down, as in some species of Fleurya the area is smooth and in others altogether 

 evanescent. 



Leaves with 5-S large teeth on each side (I) grossa. 



Leaves with 9-50 small teeth on each side : 



Flowers in small dense globular clusters; male flowers 

 sessile and 5 -partite, female" on narrowly winged 

 pedicels scarcely enlarged in fruit... ... ... (2) mitis. 



Flowers not in dense globular clusters ; male flowers 

 on slender pedicels and 4 -partite, female on broadly 

 winged cuneately obcordate pedicels very much 

 enlarged in fruit ... (3) alatipes, 



1. F, grossa (Wedd. in Ann. Sc. Nat. 4"^* ser, i. 1«3); a herb, 



apparently 2 ft. or more high, armed with stinging hairs on the 

 petioles and veins on the underside of the leaves, unarmed on the 



■ n 



stem and inflorescence, otherwise glabrous in all parts ; leaves 

 alternate; petiole |-3 in. long; blade 1-5 in, long, f-3| in. broad, 

 ovate, acuminate, cuneately subtruncate at the base, very coarsely 

 toothed, green, marked with rather large white spots ; teeth 6-9 on 

 each side, 1-6 lin. long and as much in breadth at the base, broadly 

 deltoid, acute or acuminate ; peduncles solitary, axillary, about as 

 long as or slightly longer than the petioles, racemosely or panicu- 

 lately branched ; pedicels very short, not winged, scarcely evident 



^i^. C. VOL. V. SECT. IL 



2 y 



