638 URTICACER, (Parietarww 
5. PARIETARIA, Tourn. 
Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves alternate, petiolate, quite 
entire, 3-nerved ; stipules wanting. Flowers polygamous, in axillary 
cymes or glomerules, sessile, bracteate. Male flowers (often 
hermaphrodite): Perianth deeply 3—4-partite; segments valvate. 
Stamens 3-4, inflexed in bud. Female flowers: Perianth tubular 
at the base, 3-4-lobed. Ovary free within the perianth; stigma 
recurved, penicillate ; ovule solitary, erect. Achene enclosed in the 
variously enlarged persistent perianth, crustaceous. Seed albumin- 
ous ; cotyledons oblong or ovate. 
A small genus of 7 or 8 species, generally distributed in both temperate and 
tropical regions. The single New Zealand species has almost the range of the 
genus. 
1. P. debilis, Forst. Prodr. n. 387.—A slender flaccid more or 
less pubescent diffusely branched annual herb 6-18in. high. 
Leaves on long slender petioles; blade 4-14 in. long, broadly 
ovate or ovate-cordate, obtuse or obtusely acuminate, thin and 
membranous, quite entire, green on both surfaces, 3-nerved from 
the base. Cymes 3-7-flowered, almost contracted into sessile 
clusters ; bracts linear, shortly united at the base. Hermaphro- 
dite (or male) flowers usually in the fork of the cyme; perianth 
almost unchanged in fruit. Female flowers lateral; perianth evi- 
dently enlarged in fruit. Achene very minute, dark-brown, quite 
smooth.—A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 354; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. 1. 226; 
Handb. N.Z. Fl. 252; Benth. Fl. Austral. vi. 188. Urtica debilis, 
Endl. Prodr. Fl. Norfolk. 37; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 334; Raoul, 
Choix, 42. 
KERMADEC IsLANDS, NortH AND SoutH Istanps: Abundant as far south 
as middle Otago. Sea-level to 2500 ft. Flowers spring and summer. 
6. AUSTRALINA, Gaud. 
Diffuse or creeping annual or perennial herbs. Leaves alter- 
nate, petiolate, crenate-toothed or almost entire; stipules lateral, 
free. Flowers monecious, in few-flowered axillary glomerules ; 
glomerules unisexual or androgynous. Male flowers: 1-8 together 
at the summit of a common peduncle. Perianth irregularly bila- 
biate, the outer lip inflexed in bud. Stamen solitary. Rudi- 
mentary ovary wanting. Female flowers solitary or few together, 
sessile. Perianth ovoid-tubular, mouth contracted and obscurely 
toothed. Ovary free within the perianth ; stigma linear, villous ; 
ovule erect from the base. Achene enclosed in the persistent 
perianth; pericarp thin, shining. Seed with scanty albumen; 
cotyledons ovate. 
A small genus of 6 species, 2 found in Australia, 1 of them extending to. 
New Zealand, and 4 natives of South Africa and Abyssinia. 
