Laportea.'] UvticaceCB. 1 05 



16. XiAPORTEA, Gaudich. 



Perennial herbs or shrubs, with (often very minute) sting- 

 ing hairs ; 1. large, alt, penniveined ; stip. opposite, free or 

 connate ; fl. unisexual, in axillary cymes ; male fl, : — sep. 4-5, 

 subvalvate ; stam. 4-5, fil. inflexed in bud ; pistillode short ; 

 fl. fern. : — sep. 3-4, free or connate, persistent ; ov. compressed, 

 style filiform, ovule erect or ascending ; achene oblique, 

 endosperm scanty or o, cotyledons broad. — Sp. about 25 ; 3 

 in Fl. B. Ind. 



Ped. of fem. fl. winged, achene deflexed . . .1. L. terminalis. 

 Pad. of fem. fl. cylindric, achene erect . . . 2. L. CRENULATA. 



1. Zi. terminalis, Wight, Ic. vi. 9 (1853). 



Thw. Enum. 259. L. evittata, Wedd. in DC. Prod. xvi. i, 79. C. P. 

 3336. 



Fl. B. Ind. V. 549. Wight, Ic. t. 1972. 



Stem 2-4 ft., erect, herbaceous, glabrous or puberulous ; 

 whole plant covered more or less with spreading stinging 

 hairs ; 1. 4-10, ovate-oblong, acuminate, coarsely toothed or 

 serrate, membranous, base rounded or subcordate ; petiole up 

 to 2\ in. long, slender ; stip. \ in. long, or shorter ; male 

 cymes as long as the petioles or longer, fem. much larger, 

 usually in the upper axils, with spreading branches ; fl. 

 monoecious, male shortly ped., sep. equal, pubescent ; fem. fl. 

 on broadly winged cuneiform peds., sep. very unequal, lateral 

 much the largest, style slender ; achene sharply deflexed, 

 faces slightly tubercled. 



Forests of montane zone 4-600x3 ft. ; rather rare. Hewaheta; Maturata. 

 Fl. Jan.; green. 



Also in Himalaya and Nilgiri Mts. 



This nettle stings sharply, but the pain does not last very long. 



2. Zi. crenulata, Gaud, in Freyc. Voy. Bot. 498 (1826). ma- 

 ussa, ..v. 



Urtica stimulatts, Moon, Cat. 62 (? L. f.). Thw. Enum. 259. Wedd. 

 I. c. 85. C. P. 2200. 



Fl. B. Ind. V. 550. Wight, Ic. t. 686 {Urtica crenulata). Bedd. Fl. 

 Sylv. t. 306. 



Stem 8-10 ft., stout, shrubby ; whole plant clothed more 

 or less with very minute stinging hairs; 1. 9-12 in., oval to 

 oblong or oblong-lanceolate, acute, acuminate or caudate, 

 entire or margins minutely sinuate or crenulate, base obtuse 

 acute or notched, veins 12-16 pairs, petiole 1-4 in., stout ; 

 stip. small; cymes short, dichotomously branched; fl. dice- 



