NETTLE FAMILY. 299 



M. nigra, Black M. Middle-sized tree, planted and sparingly run wild 

 from the Levant ; leaves rough ; spikes short and short-peduncled ; fruit short- 

 oblong or globular, red turning black, pleasant-tasted. 



M. alba, White M. Small tree, planted from China : the leaves feed silk- 

 worms, these are smooth and mostly oblique at base ; spikes slender-peduncled, 

 in fruit oval or oblong, white or pale rose-color, rather insipid. 



6. BROUSSONETIA, PAPER-MULBERRY. (Named for £roussone«, 

 a Erench naturalist.) 



B. papyrifera, of Japan. Cult, as a shade-tree from New York S. : 

 spreading by suckers, with a very fibrous bark ; leaves rough above, downy be- 

 neath, serrate, some of them ovate or slightly heart-shaped, others 3-cleft or 

 variously lobed : flowering in spring. 



7. MACLURA, OSAGE-ORANGE. (Named for the late Mr. Maclure, 

 founder of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. ) 



M. aurantlaca. Common 0., or Bois d'arc (Bow-wood, the tough 

 yellow wood used for bows by the Lidians). Low bushy tree from Arkansas, 

 &c. : multiplying rapidly by its running roots ; planted for hedges, especially 

 W. ; armed with slender and very sharp spines ; leaves lance-ovate, entire, very 

 glossy : fl. spring. 



8. URTIC A, NETTLE. (The classical Latin name.) Common in waste 

 grounds and near dwellings : fl. summer. 



* Flower-clusters in branching panicled spikes : often dioecious. 21 

 IT. dioiea, Common N. A weed from Eu., full of stings, 2° - 3° high, 

 with heart-ovate very deeply serrate leaves downy beneath. 



U. gracilis. Fence-i-ows, &c. : 2° - 6° high, with ovate-lanceolate less 

 deeply serrate leaves, longer petioles, rather few stings, and slender spikes. 

 * * Flower-clusters shorter than the petiole, mostiy 2 in the same axil, containing 

 both soi'ts of flowers : stings scattered, (i) 



U". chamaedryoides. Wild S. & W. : slender, with heart-ovate or lance- 

 ovate leaves moderately toothed, and dense flower-clusters. 



U. tirens. Small N. Weed from Eu., not common : 8' -12' high, with 

 ovate leaves deeply cut into long spreading teeth ; flower-clusters small, loose. 



9. LAPORTEA, WOOD-NETTLE. (Named for one Zaporte.) 1^ 



L. Canadensis. Moist and rich woods : 2° -3° high; ovate leaves 4' -7' 

 long and long-petioled, a single 2-cleft stipule in the axil : fl. all summer. 



10. BCEHMERIA, FALSE-NETTLE. (Named for Prof. Bohmer of 

 Germany.) 21 



B. eylindriea. Moist shady grounds, l°-3° high, smoothish ; leaves 

 mostly opiKJsitL", ovate or lance-ovate, 3-nerved, serrate, long-petioled ; flower- 

 clusters crowded in long narrow interrupted spikes, in summer. 



B. nivea, Ramie, or the Guass-Cloth Plant of China, &c., 3=-4° high, 

 with ovate leaves white-downy beneath, is recently planted S. W. for its very 

 valuable textile fibres. 



11. CANNABIS, HEMP. (The ancient name.) Fl. all summer. ® 



C. sativa. Common Hemp. Tall coarse plant from the Old World : cult, 

 for the fibres of its stem. 



12. HUMULUS, HOP. (Name said to be a diminutive of humus, the 

 ground ; the api)lication not apparent.) Fl. summer, y. 



H. Ltipulus, Common Hop. Wild in alluvial soil N. & W. : also cult, 

 from Eu. for hops : the aromatic bitterness resides in the yellow resinous grains 

 which a])pear on the fruiting calyx, akenes, &c. ; stems almost prickly down- 

 wards ; leaves heart-shaped and strongly 3 - 7-lobed. 



