368 URTICACEAE 



scarcely exceetliug petioles; sepals twice longer than the broadly ovate aehene. — A dubious 

 species; origin of the type open to doubt since not found near Los Angeles by later collectors, 

 although diligently searched for (cf. S. B. Parish in Zoe, vol. 5, p. 113, — 1901). Pringle's 

 no. 2003 (1S8S), State of Chihuahua, determined as this species by Watson, has a broadly 

 ovate (in sojne cases almost obcordate) pappillate-roughened aehene as long as the inner sepals. 



2. U. californica Greene. Coast Nettle. Stem often branched from the 

 base, 2 to 3 feet high, producing stolons; stems and petioles hispid and some- 

 ^vhat pubescent; leaves broadly ovate, deeply cordate, coarsely serrate, sub- 

 glabrous above, shortly pubescent below and often gray, 3 to 4 inches long and 

 nearly as broad, or the lower 4 to 7 inches long; petioles 1 to 3 inches long; 

 stipules oblong to elliptical, obtuse, 3 to 6 lines long ; spikes simple or paniculately 

 branched, mostly exceeding petioles ; inner sepals equalling ovatish aehene. 



Low lands near the coast from Lake Pilarcitos (San ilateo Co.) northward to 

 Tennessee Bay and Tomales Bay (JIarin Co.); Yes Bay, Alaska; probably 

 Washington. 



Refs. — Urtica califoenica Greene, Pitt. vol. 1, p. 2S1 (1SS9), type loc. Pt. Pietras, San 

 JIateo Co., Greene, 1887. f7. lyallii var. californica Jepson, PI. W. Mid. Cal. p. 147 (1901). 

 U. lyallii Watson, a taller more slender plant of Washington and British Columbia, has 

 narrower thinner leaves with entire caudate apices, at base truncate or barely cordate. 



3. U. urens L. Small Nettle. Erect and simple or In-anehiug from the 

 base, 1 to l^ •; feet high, leafy to the top, very sparingly hispid ; leaves elliptic 

 or ovate, coarsely laciniate-serrate, 3 to 5-nerved, i/o to liy4 inches long, slender 

 petioled; stipules short, about 1 line long; flowers more or less pedicelled in 

 glomerules, the glomerules in an oblong rather dense spike often shorter than 

 the petioles; fruiting calyx with hispid-eiliate margins. 



Native of Europe, now widely naturalized in central and Southern California. 



Locs. — San Diego; Ramona, T. S. Branclegee, 1894; Riverside; Pasadena; San Buenaven- 

 tura, Brewer, 1861; Santa Cruz Island, Greene, 1886; Santa Barbara, Dunn, 1891; Ft. Tejon 

 Springs; Greenfield (Kern Co.); Pacific Grove, W.L.J. 1890; Evergreen, San Jose, Santa 

 Clara, Mayfield, ace. Davy, 1902; San Francisco; Berkeley. 



Refs.— Urtica urens Linnaeus, Sp. PI. p. 984 (17.53); Parish, Zoe, vol. 1, p. 125 (1890); 

 Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. p. 147 (1901). 



2. HESPEROCNIDE Torr. 



Annual herbs similar to Urtica. Stipules minute. Stamiuate calyx with 4 



almost di.stinct sepals. Pistillate calyx consisting of a membranous flattened 



oblong-ovate sac with a minutely 2 to 4-toothed orifice. (Greek hespera, west or 

 western, and knide, a nettle.) 



1. H. tenella Torr. Slender, erect or straggling, 1 or 2 feet high: stems and 

 petioles bristly with scattered hairs, the blades very sparsely hispid; leaves thin, 

 ovate, serrately incised, i/2 to ^V2 (or 2) inches long on slender petioles; flowers 

 densely glomerate in the axils, the clusters shorter than the petioles; pistillate 

 calyx thin, hispid Avith hooked hairs, in fruit y^ to less than 1 line long; aehene 

 with minutely roughened surface. 



Coast Ranges from Napa Valley southward to Southern California. 



Locs. — Pinole Caiion, Greene; Bushy Knob, Brewer, no. 1194; Santa Clara foothills, C F. 

 Baker, no. 667; Santa Monica Mts., Braunton, no. 1274; San Bernardino, Parry cj'- Lemmon; 

 San Diego; San Clemente Island, ace. Davidson. 



Kefs. — HESPEROCNIDE TENELLA Torrey, Pac. R. Rep. vol. 4, p. 139 (1857), type loc. Napa 

 Valley, Dr. J. M. Bigelow (1854); Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. p. 148 (1901). 



3. PARIETARIA L. Pellitory. 

 Ours low unarmed annuals with alternate entire 3-nerved leaves without 



Jepson, Fl. C;il. pp. 337-5'i8, Nov. 4, 1909. 



