296 NETTLE FAMILY. 



seeds, from which castor-oil is expressed, and in ornamental grounds for its 

 magnificent foliage ; the peltate and palmately 7 - 11-cleft leaves 1 - 2 broad, 

 or even more : fl. late summer. 



5. JATROPHA. (Derivation of name obscure.) Chiefly tropical plants ; 

 one is a weedy plant wild S., viz. 



J. tirens, var. stimulbsa (or J. STIMULOSA), TREAD-SOFTLY or SPURGE- 

 NETTLE, names referring to its stinging bristly hairs, which are like those of 

 Nettles: dry sandy soil, branching, 6' -12' high ; leaves rounded heart-shaped, 

 3-5-Iobed or variously cleft or parted; flowers slender, white; stamens 10, 

 their filaments almost separate. ^ 



6. BUXUS, BOX. (Ancient Latin, from the Greek name of the Box-tree.) 

 B. sempdrvirens, TREE Box, and its more common var. N\NA, the 



DWARF Box, with much smaller leaves, from the Mediterranean, are planted 

 North chiefly for borders, especially the Dwarf Box. 



7. PACHYSANDRA. (The name in Greek means thick stamens.) ^ 

 P. proctimbens. Rocky woods, W. slope of the Alleghanies, and in some 



gardens ; developing its copious spikes from the base of the short procumbent 

 densely tufted stems, in early spring. 



103. URTICACE^I, NETTLE FAMILY- 



This family, taken in the largest sense, includes very various 

 apetalous plants, with monoecious or dioecious flowers (except in 

 the. Elm Family), having a distinct calyx free from the 1 -seeded 

 fruit. Inner bark generally tough. Leaves with stipules, which 

 are sometimes early deciduous. There are four suborders. 



I. ELM FAMILY. Trees, the juice not milky. Leaves 

 alternate, 2-ranked, simple : stipules small and falling early. 

 Flowers monceciously polygamous, many of them perfect, with 

 the filaments not inflexed in the bud, and 2 diverging styles or 

 long stigmas. Ovary 1 - 2-celled, with 1 or 2 hanging ovules, 

 in fruit always 1-celled and 1-seeded. 



* Fniit dry, winged or nut-like. Anthers turned outwards. 



1. ULMUS. Calyx bell-shaped, 4-9-cleft, Stamens 4-9: filaments long and 



slender. Ovary mostly 2-celled, becoming a 1-celled thin samara or key- 

 fruit winged all round (Lessons, p. 131, fig. 301). Flowers in clusters in 

 axils of last year's leaves, in early spring, before the leaves of the season, 

 purplish or yellowish-green. Leaves straight -veined, serrate. 



2. PLANERA. Like Elm, but flowers more polygamous, appearing with the 



leaves in small axillary clusters; the lobes of tha calyx and stamens only 4 

 or 5; the 1-celled 1-ovuled cvary forming a wingless nut-like fruit. 

 # * Fruit a berry-like r/lobular small drupe. Anthers turned inward. 



3. GELTIS. Calyx 5 - 6-parted, persistent. Stamens 5 or 6. Stigmas very long, 



tapering. Ovary and drupe 1-celled, 1-seeded. Flowers greenish, in the 

 axils of the leaves; the lower ones mostly staminate and clustered, the upper 

 fertile and mostly solitary on a slender peduncle. 



II. FIG FAMILY. Trees with milky or colored acrid or 

 poisonous juice. Leaves alternate. Flowers strictly monoecious or 

 dioecious. Styles or stigmas commonly 2. 



1. Flowers of both kinds mixed, lining the inside of a closed fleshy receptacle, or 

 hollow Jlower-stalk, which ripens into what seems to be a sort of berry. 



4. FICUS. Receptacle in which the flowers are concealed borne in the axil of 



the leaves. Akene seed-like. Stipules large, successively enveloping the 

 young leaves in the bud, falling off as the leaves expand. 



