1838 CIX. URTICER. Le 
and female flowers free within the perianth-tube, in the males rudi- 
mentary. Style filiform or very short, with a densely tufted linear- 
athulate recurved stigma, deciduous after flowering. Nut enclosed in 
the variously enlarged perianth, that of the hermaphrodite flowers 
usually cylindr rival, not su a | —Annual or perennial much-branched 
erbs, pubescent with more or less prehensile hooked hairs. Leaves 
alternate, entire, 3-nerved or ML Stipules none. 
® The genus is ge cup over the greater part of the globe, the only Australian species 
ihe one of the widest range. 
P. debilis, Forst. Prod. 73. A diffuse more or less pubescent 
doy annual of 6 in. to above 1ft. Leaves on slender petioles, 
ovate or cordate, phe or acuminate, membran n both 
o 
=] 
iuis 
: © 
oO 
B 
et 
sometimes 3 only. raia pics éveil - of v d rs 
maphrodite flower, although «rans a Pe 
; 
asm. i. 9344; Wedd. in DC. Brod: xvi. i 235° squ -— 
Hook. f. in Hook. Lond. Journ. vi. 985; Freirea disteni Nees in P 
Preiss. i. 638. 
N. Australia. Sea Range, F. Mueller. 
Queensland, Brisbane river, Darebin creek, and Buchan river, F. Mueller ü 
. Argyle county, 4 rg ingham ; Hunter’s river, Miss Scott ; 
Shorihaven nen guiies C. Moore; New England, C. S : 
n fissures of rocks, F. ‘Malet; Carling creek, Robertson; Little river, 
Plager Vo Murray — Dallachy. ssland, 
Launceston and various places along the coast, Gunn ; Flinders istan 
Milligan s Yi King’s island F. Mueller Lake 
t. Vincent’s gulf F. Mueller; Gawler ranges, Sullivan ; 
Gillies, Burkitt; Kan aroo i SAM , F. Mueller. d 
ustralia. Bid , Drum koka i coll. n. 134, eon jek an 
Kalgan rivers, (Olaf; ‘Oldfield’ river, Miisan: veda island, Preiss 
The s s spread over the tropical and temperate regions both of Ko s 
the Old Wor Hd, with the rius of Europe d Northern Asia. It was distinguis "n 
by Gaudi chaud generically from the peer P. officinalis, under the name of Fi fu 
on account of its sessile stigma, a character which however does py DE ood in 
P. mauritanica, which is in other respects p closely allied to P. debi. 
15., AUSTRALINA, Gaudich. 
the 
Flowers moncecious, in the same or different axillary clusters, x 
males few together (1 to 5) sessile on a very short common pedune | 
the females sessile or on very short pedicels. oe ae ie y 
bilabiate, the outer lip infexed in th out an 
rudimentary pistil. Female perianth ovoide, preii E d 
Ovary enclosed in the perianth but free, with a linear style v0? — 
