5. BoEHMERiA.] 124. URTICACE^. 



a, describes this form as with leaves broadly ov^ate, gradually acuminate with 

 rotund or cordate base and whole margin (even the tip) serrate or crenate-serrate, 

 sparsely hispid above, hispidulous beneath, spikes simple or (esp. the male) 

 simply branched, female equalling or exceeding the leaves, erecto-patent with the 

 clusters pisiform distinct. He quotes Wall., No. 4582 («) from Nepal and this 

 agi-ees very well with the common B. & 0. plant usually placed under gcabrella. 

 Chota NagiJur ! Angul ! 



Var. scabrella, Wedd. 



Leaves smaller than in the type, rounded at the base, suddenly shortly caudate,, 

 hispid, lower spikes shorter, upper exceeding the leaves, all erect. Wed'dell quotes 

 Wall., No. 4581 (Goyalpara). in which the upper spikes nre only up to 5*5". I doubt 

 whether this is the B. scabrella either of Cooke or Prain.* It is not the Parasnath 

 plant called scabrella by Clat'ke, which appears to me to be only a harsh-leaved 

 state of form a of Weddell. 



A Purneah plant with soft rhomboid-elliptic leaves 3-5", not or very shortly 

 acuminate, acutely dentate, not markedly rugosely-areolate below (as in the 

 Parasnath plant) and with erect spikes scarcelj' longer than the petiole seems to 

 come near to this. 



6. POUZOLZIA, Gaud. 



Herbs, more rarely shrubs, with alternate or opposite 3 -nerved 

 usually entire leaves, uppermost sometimes passing into bracts. 

 Stipules usually free. Flowers in 1 -sexual or androgynous clusters- 

 in the axils of the leaves, clusters never spicate except by the reduction 

 of the leaves at the ends of the branches. Male perianth 4-5-, very 

 rarely 3-partite or -lobed, tepals often dorsally gibbous or abruptly 

 inflexed, pistillode clavate or oblong. Fern, perianth tubular with 

 contracted 2-4-toothed mouth, fruiting often angled or winged, 

 stigma filiform articulate on the ovary and deciduous. Achene 

 closely invested by the perianth, usually free within it, crustaceous. 

 Seed with albumen very scanty or 0. Cotyledons ovate. 



A. Tepals of male convex or gibbous dorsally, so that the buds 



are rounded : — 

 Primary nerves 3. Petioles "l-l". St. 4 or rarely 5 . . .1. indica. 

 Primary nerves 3-5. Petioles 1-4". St. 5 2. auriculata, 



B. Tepals of male abruptly inflexed about the middle and angled 

 at the flexure so that the buds are truncate :— 



Stem with leaves becoming bractiform above so that the flowers 



become spicate 3. pentandra^ 



Stem not running out into a bracteate spike . . . .4. liirta. 



1. P. indica. Gaud. 



A herb with creeping rootstock and 2-4 ft. long weak stems more 

 or less scabridly hairy. Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, 

 •5-1 -3", entire, dotted and appressed hairy beneath, less so and shining 

 above, base rounded, midrib with 1-2 sec. n. only. Petiole •l-'2" 

 (attaining \" in outside specimens). Flowers axillary about 6 in a 

 cluster. Male buds globose and apiculate, very strigose, stamens 5 

 (-4), tepals convex, oblong, acuminate. Fem. somewhat oblong, 

 fruiting with 4 larger and 2 smaller wings above showing as ridges 

 below. Stigma feathery •\1" long. 



Singbhum.near streams, not common ! Ranchi, Clarke ! Chota Nagpur (with- 

 out locality), Wood ! Sikkim Tarai (and probably Purneah), Kurz ! There are no 



* Clarke (in Journ. Linn. Soc, xv, p. 124), when he wrote that B. scabrella was 

 quite distinct from B. platyphylla, was dealing with a plant he found on a journej^ 

 from Darjeeling to Tonglu in British Sikkim ! 



816 



I 



