il9 



17 Ricinus, Linn. 

 communis, Linn. A-C- 



18 Dalechampia, Linn. 

 capensis, Spreng. AB. 



19 Excoecaria, Tji7in. 



africana, Mull. Arg. A. 



reticulata, Mull. Arg. A. 



sp, (/. M. Wood, 954) B. 



ORDER CLIII. 



The genus from which this family takes its name is Urtica, and 

 the common stinging nettle is Urtica dioico ; this genus includes some 

 30 species, most if not all of which are furnished with stinging hairs, 

 as also are those of some of the nearly related genus Fleurva, but the 

 most virulent of all of them are probably one or more species of 

 Laportea, an Australian species of this genus w^hich is said to cause 

 much suffering or even death to animals which have been much in 

 contact with it. An Indian species emits when bruised so ''irritant 

 an effluvia as to cause a copious flow of saliva and mucus from the nose 

 and eyes for many hours, and sometimes to produce violent fever, and 

 a Timor species of Urtica is said to have caused death. The different 

 species of Morus known popularly as " Mulberries " belong to this 

 Order, and are cultivated for their fruit, and also for their leaves 

 which are used as food for silkworms. The species of Ficus or "Figs" 

 are trees or climbing shrubs many of which are parasitical in their 

 early life, and after having killed their host lead an independant 

 existence ; some of the species yield caoutchouc ; the most important of 

 these is Ficus elastica, a native of India, and some of the other species 

 are the food plants of the " Lac " insect. What is popularly known as 

 " China Grass " is the fibre from the bark of two or more species of 

 Boehmeria, and is rapidly becoming an important article of commerce. 

 The "Bread-fruit" is Artocarpus incisa, and the "Jack" A. inte- 

 grifolia, and both belong to this Order, as also does Brosimuin 

 galactodendron, the so-called " Cow tree " of Venezuela, the useful 

 properties of which have most likely been greatly exaggerated, as also 

 have the deleterious properties of Antiana toxicaria, the " Upas" tree 

 about which so many highly coloured reports have been spread. 

 Finally several species of the Order yield valuable wood, and the bark 

 of others has been used medicinally. 



Number of species about 1500. 



Ovules pendulous. A. 



Ovules erect. B. 



A. OVULES PENDULOUS. 

 Flowers mona'cious or polygamous, cymose or solitary 



in the axils. Fruit a di'upe. 1 



