532 URTICACEAE. 
3. Urtica urens L. Small Nettle. (Fig. 1265.) 
Urtica urens I. Sp. Pl. 984. 1753. 
Annual, stem rather stout, 6’-18’ high, 
ascending or erect, it and its slender 
branches stinging-bristly. Leaves thin, 
glabrous or very nearly so, elliptic, oval or 
ovate in outline, deeply incised or some- 
times doubly serrate, with acute, ascend- 
ing or spreading teeth, 3-5-nerved, ob- 
tuse at both ends, or acutish, 1/-3’ long, 
slender-petioled; petioles often as long as 
the blades; stipules short; flower-clusters 
oblong, rather dense, mostly shorter than 
the petioles; flowers androgynous. 
In waste places, Newfoundland to northern 
New York, New Jersey and Florida. Also 
on the Pacific Coast. Naturalized from Eu- 
rope. May-Sept. 
4. Urtica chamaedryoides Pursh. Weak Nettle. (Fig. 1266.) 
Urtica chamaedryoides Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 
113. 1814. 
Annual, sparingly stinging-bristly but 
otherwise nearly or quite glabrous, stem very 
slender, weak, ascending, simple or branched, 
6’-3° long. Leaves slender-petioled, thin, 
crenate-dentate, the lower broadly ovate or 
orbicular, obtuse at the apex and usually cor- 
date at the base, %’-114’ wide, the upper 
ovate or lanceolate, acute or acuminate at the 
apex, rounded or narrowed at the base, the 
uppermost very small; stipules lanceolate- 
subulate; flower-clusters small, glomerate, 
shorter than the petioles; flowers androgy- 
nous. 
In thickets, Kentucky to Arkansas, south to 
Georgia and Texas. April-Aug. 
2. URTICASTRUM Fabr. Enum. 204. 1759. 
[LAPORTEA Gaud. in Freyc. Voy. Bot. 498. 1826.] 
Perennial herbs, armed with stinging hairs, the leaves broad, alternate, serrate, petioled, 
the flowers monoecious or dioecious, sessile in loose axillary compound cymes. Staminate 
flowers in our species with 5 imbricated sepals, 5 stamens and a rudimentary ovary. Pistil- 
late flowers with 4 unequal sepals, the outer 1 or 2 minute, an oblique or nearly straight com- 
pressed ovary and a subulate slender persistent style; ovule erect. Achene very oblique, 
flat, reflexed. Seed-coat membranous. Endosperm scanty or wanting. [Latin, star nettle.] 
About 25 species, mostly of tropical distribution, only the following North American. 
