Urtica. monoecia tetrandria. 591 



Stipules ensiform, one on each side of the insertion of the pe- 

 tiole. Panicles in axilhu'y pairs, about as long- as the peti- 

 oles, villous. Flouiers numerous, small, of a greenish yel- 

 Jow, collected in small, globular heads; male on the inferior 

 panicles, and female on the superior ones. Bractes minute. 

 Male. C«///.i' of four ovate, concave leaflets. Carol none. 

 Nectary a globular pedicellcd gland in the centre resembling 

 a pistillum. Filaments four. Anthers two-lobed. Febiale. 

 Calyx one-leaved, urceolate. Corol none. Stamina none. 

 Germ oblong-, minute, hairy, no filaments surrounding- it, as 

 in Louriero's U. nivea. Stigma single, bairy, and about the 

 length of tlie germ. Seeds, they have not been found in a 

 ri[)e state. 



To procure the fibres, Marsden says the shoots are cut 

 down, dried, and beaten, after >vhich the rind is stripped oflf. 

 Rumphius's Ramium majits, Hor. Amh. 215. t, 79./'. 1, Avhich 

 I take to be this plant, yields also fibres of the same nature, 

 and is quoted by Willdenow for Urtica, which from the pre- 

 vailing- definition of that plant, " Foliis s7ib-orbicuIatis ntrin- 

 que acutis, velbaseattenuutis," I must conclude to be a diflfer- 

 ent species, for in all the plants in the Botanic garden, origi- 

 nally from Sumatra, from Prince of Wales' Island, and from 

 Rung-poor, they are uniforndy broad-cordate. Both male 

 and female iiiflorescence glomerate, panicled. Calyx of the 

 latter of one leaf, and the germ destitute of the barren fila- 

 ments which Louriero gives to U. nivea. 



20. U. crennlata. R. 



Shrubby, dioecous, erect. Leaves alternate, oblong, acute, 

 crenate. Spikes axillary, compound, dichotomous. 



A native of the eastern parts of Bengal, and first found near 

 Luckipore by Dr. Buchanan; flowering time the latter part 

 of the rains. 



Stem erect, shrubby. Bark smooth, ash-coloured, armed 

 with most acute, burning- hairs. Leaves alternate, short-pe- 

 tioled, oblong, acute, crenulate, or slightly dentate, both sides 



