NETTLE FAMILY. 299 



M. nigra, BLACK M. Middle-sized tree, planted and sparingly run wild 

 from the Levant ; leaves rough ; spikes short and short-peduncled ; fruit short- 

 oblong or globular, red turning black, pleasant-tasted. 



M. alba, WHITE M. Small tree, planted from China : the leaves feed silk- 

 worms, these are smooth and mostly oblique at base ; spikes slender-peduncled, 

 in fruit oval or oblong, white or paie rose-color, rather insipid. 



6. BROUSSONETIA, PAPER-MULBERRY. (Named for Broussonet, 

 a French naturalist.) 



B. papyrifera, of Japan. Cult, as a shade-tree from New York S. : 

 spreading bv suckers, with a very fibrous bark ; leaves rough above, downy be- 

 neath, serrate, some of them ovate or slightly heart-shaped, others 3-cleft or 

 variously lobed : flowering in spring. 



7. MACLURA, OSAGE-ORANGE. (Named for the late Mr. Maclure, 



founder of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.) 



M. aurantiaca, COMMON O., or Bois D'ARC (Bovv-wooD, the tough 

 yellow wood used for bows by the Indians). Low bushy tree from Arkansas, 

 &c. : multiplying rapidly by its running roots ; planted for hedges, especially 

 W. ; armed with slender and very sharp spines ; leaves lance-ovate, entire, very 

 g'.ossy : fl. spring. 



8. URTICA, NETTLE. (The classical Latin name.) Common in waste 

 grounds and near dwellings : fl. summer. 



# Flower-clusters in branching panicled spikes : often dioecious. 1}. 

 IT. dioica, COMMON N. A weed from Eu., full of stings, 2 -3 high, 

 with heart-ovate very deeply serrate leaves downy beneath. 



U. gracilis. Fence-rows, &c : 2 - 6 high, with ovate-lanceolate less 

 deeply serrate leaves, longer petioles, rather few stings, and slender spikes. 

 * * Flower-clusters shorter than the petiole, most y 2 in the same axil, containing 

 both sorts of flowers : stings scattered. 



U. Chamsedryoides. Wild S. & W. : slender, with heart-ovate or lance- 

 ovate leaves moderately toothed, and dense flower-clusters. 



U. urens, SMALL N. Weed from Eu., not common : S' -12' high, with 

 ovate leaves deeply cut into long spreading teeth ; flower-clusters small, loose. 



9. LAPORTEA, WOOD-NETTLE. (Named for one Laporte.) %. 



L. Canadensis. Moist and rich woods : 2 -3 high; ovate leaves 4' -T 

 long and long-petioled, a single 2-cleft stipule in the axil : fl. all summer. 



10. BCEHMERIA, FALSE-NETTLE. (Named for Prof. Bohmer of 



Germany. ) I/. 



B. cylindrica. Moist shady grounds, l-3 high, smoothish ; leaves 

 mostly opposite, ovate or lance-ovate, 3-nerved, serrate, long-petioled ; flower- 

 clusters crowded in long narrow interrupted spikes, in summer. 



B. nivea, RAMIE, or the GRASS-CLOTH PLANT of China, &c., 3-4 high, 

 with ovate leaves white-downy beneath, is recently planted S. W. for its very 

 valuable textile fibres. 



11. CANNABIS, HEMP. (The ancient name.) Fl. all summer. 



C. sativa, COMMON HEMP. Tall coarse plant from the Old World : cult 



for the fibres of its stem. 



12. HUMULUS, HOP. (Name said to be a diminutive of humus, the 

 ground; the application not apparent. ) Fl. summer. 2/ 



H. Ltlpulus, COMMON HOP. Wild in alluvial soil N. & W. : also cult, 

 from Eu. for hops : the aromatic bitterness resides in the yellow resinous grains 

 which appear on the fruiting calyx, akenes, &c ; stems almost prickly down- 

 wards ; leaves heart-shaped and strongly 3 - 7-lobed. 



