1 06 Urticacece. [Gtrardinia. 



cious, shortly pedicelled, ped. cylindric ; male fl. : — sep. equal, 

 free ; fern. fl. : — perianth minute, subcampanulate, lobes acute, 

 style stout, villous to the base ; achene erect, turgid, obliquely 

 ovoid. 



Damp forests 2-5000 ft.; common. Fl. Sept.-Jan. ; green. 

 S. India, E. Bengal, Burma, Malaya. 



The Fever- or Devil-nettle stings severely, often producing distressing 

 effects that remain for many days. 



17. GZRARDZNIA, Gaudich. 

 Herbs or undershrubs with stinging hairs ; 1. alt., base 

 3-veined, entire or lobed ; stip. connate, foliaceous; fl. monoe- 

 cious, in simple or panicled cymes or heads ; male fl. : — sep. 

 4-5, subequal, valvate; stam. 4-5, fil. inflexed in bud; pistil- 

 lode short; fl. fem.: — perianth subcampanulate, 2-3-toothed, 

 persistent; ov. erect, stigma subulate, ovule erect; achene 

 flattened, endosperm scanty or o, cotyledons broad. — Sp. 7 ; 

 I m Fl. B. bid. 



G. heterophylla, Dene, in Jacqiiem. Voy. Bot. 151 (1841). Gas- 

 kahambiliya, .s. 



Herm. Mas. 47. Burm. Thes. 233 (in part). Urtica heterophylla.^ 

 Vahl, Moon, Cat. 62. G. zeylanica. Dene. 1. c. 152; Wedd. in DC. 1. c. 

 loi ; Thw. Enum. 259. C. P. 2193. 



Fl. B. Ind. V. 550. Wight, Ic. t. 687 {Urtica). 



A tall, robust, perennial-rooted herb, up to 6 ft. high, 

 closely armed with long rigid stout or slender stinging hairs; 

 stem and branches furrowed; 1. 4-12 in. long and often as 

 broad, cordate, the upper variously lobed, often palmately 

 or pinnatifidly, coarsely toothed, more or less pubescent; 

 petiole up to 7 in. ; stip. 2-fid ; cymes peduncled, male inter- 

 rupted, subcylindric, fem. in the upper axils, bearing heads of 

 fl. clothed with long stinging hairs; achene broadly ovate, or 

 subcordate, black, punctate. 



Var. /i, palmata. G. palmata. Gaud. (Wedd. 1. c. loi). G. Leschen- 

 aultiana, Dene. 1. c. 152; Thw. Enum. 259. Wight, Ic. t. 1976 (2 plates). 

 C. P. 3520. 



L. hirsute beneath, stip. broadly cordate. 



Waste ground in low country to 3000 ft.; common. Var. /^^, forests 

 of montane zone 3-6000 ft.; rather common. Fl. Feb.; green. 



India, Burma, Java. Var. /3 on the .Milgiris. 



This stings severely, especially var. /3, known to planters as the 

 'elephant-maussa.' In .S. India it is known as the ' Nilgiri Nettle,' and 

 affords a very good fibre. 



