316 CANNABINACE.E. 



pie or branched from the base, succulent and almost transparent. Leaves oppo- 

 site, broad-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, crenate-serrate, shining, on 

 Eetioles which are 1 — 2 inches long. Floioers very small, greenish, in axillary 

 ranching clusters or paniculate corymbs, which are shorter than the petioles. 

 Very properly separated from tlie genus Urtica. Richweed. Coolweed. 



^ 3. BCEHMERIA. Jacq.— False Nettle. 

 (.Named after George Rudolph Boehmer, a German Botanist.) 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious, minute. Sterile Fl. Pe- 

 rianth 4-parted. Stamens 4. Fertile Fl. Perianth none, 

 but a cluster of ovate acuminate scales, with a compressed 

 ovary within each scale. Nut ovate, pointed -with the subulate 

 style. 



B. cylindrica Willd. : herbaceous ; leaves opposite, ovate-oblong, acu- 

 minate, toothed, 3-nerved, on long petioles, smoothish ; sterile spikes inter- 

 rupted; fertile ones mostly continuous, cylindric. B. lateriflora Muhl. 

 Urtica cylindrica Linn. 



Wet grounds. Can. to Flor, June— -Aug. %.—Slem 2 — 3 feet high, smooth- 

 ish, usually simple, obtusely 4-angled. Flowers minute, greenish, often dioecioas, 

 in slender mostly leafy spikes. FaZ.se Nettle. 



4. PARIETARIA. Linn.— VelVitory. 

 (From the Latin paries, a wall ; the species often growing on old walls.) 



* Flowers polygamous, surrounded by a many-cleft involucre. 

 Perfect Fl. Perianth 4-parted, persistent. Stamens 4 ; fila- 

 ments at first incurved, then expanding with an elastic force. 

 Ovary 1. Style 1. Nut enclosed by the enlarged periantht 



P. Pennsijlvanica Muhl. : leaves alternate, oblong-lanceolate, veiny, 

 with opaque dots ; involucre longer than the flowers. 



Moist rocks. N. Y. to Geor. June. 0. — Stem 6 — 12 inches high, simple. 

 Flowers mostly F>erfect, in compact axillary clusters, whitis'h, at length brown. 



Pennsylvanian Pellitory. 



Order CXII. CANNABINACE^.— Hempworts. 



Flowers dioecious. Sterile Fl. in racemes or panicles. Pe- 

 rianth 5-parted, herbaceous, scaly, imbricated. Stamens few. 

 Fertile Fl. in spikes or cones. Perianth single, inwrapping 

 the ovary. Stigmas 2, subulate, sessile. Fruit indehiscent, 

 with a single seed. Embryo curved, without albumen. — Her- 

 baceous rough-stemmed watery plants, with alternate lobed stip- 

 ulate leaves, and small inconspicuous flowers. 



1. CANNABIS. iz?m.— Hemp. 

 (An ancient Greek name, the etymology of which is obscure.) 

 Dioecious. Sterile Fl. Perianth 5-parted. Stamens 6; 



