636 



SYSTEMATIC BOTANY. 



nate, usually rough, or with stinging hairs {fig. 129) ; stipu- 

 late. Flowers small, unisexual {fig. 1005), or rarely perfect, 

 scattered, or arranged in heads or catkins. Calyx inferior 



Fig. 1005. 



Fig. 1006. 



Fig. 1005. Male flower of the Small Nettle ( Urtica urens'). c. Calyx, e, e, 



e.e. Stamens, with 2-celled antliers. fji: Rudimentary pistil Fig. 1006. 



Vertical section of the pistil of the above, p. Wall of the ovary, s. Stigma, 

 o. Ovxile. 



(fig. 1 005 c), lohed, persistent. Male flower with a few distinct 

 stamens {fig. 1005). perigynous, and opposite the divisions of 

 the calyx. Female flower with a superior 1 -celled ovary 

 {fig. 712 and 1006), with a single ascending OAiile {figs. 712 

 and 1006). Fruit indehiscent {fig. 757), surrounded by the 

 persistent calyx. Seed solitary {fig. 757), erect ; embryo {fig. 

 lbl\ straight, enclosed in albumen ; and with a superior ra- 

 dicle, r. 



Distribution, ^c. — The plants of this order are more or less 

 distributed over the world. Examples : — Urtica, Bcehmeria, 

 Pilea, Parietaria. Lindley estimates this order to contain 

 23 genera, and 300 species. 



Properties and Uses.— Chicly remarkable for yielding valu- 

 able fibres, and for the acrid stinging juice contained in their 

 hairs. 



Urtica, Nettle.— The Nettles are well known from their stinging hairs 

 (Jig. I21i). Some of the East lndi;in species, as U. crenulatn and urentissittia, 

 produce vcrv violent eflects. The juice is said by Endlicher to owe its 

 powerful eflects to the presence of bicarbonate of ammonia, but this is 

 »;vidfutly an error. Flagellation by a buncii of nettles ( Urtica dioica or urevs'), 

 was formerly employed in palsy, &c. Some Nettles, as U. tttbcrosa, have 

 edible tutjr-rs. Some yield useliil fibres, as Urtica licterojihylla, Neilgherry 

 Nettle, and I', tcimcissima, Uom viKxch Caloee Hemp or Hhea fibre, one of 

 the strongest known fibres, is obtained. Kimosh and Kimxhon of the Bible, 

 have b»'en translated Nettles. 



/^W/wrria.— Several sjjecies yield valuable fibres, as B. Puya or frntcsccris 

 (Pooah fibre), in Nepaid and Sikkim, and Ji. spcciosa (Wild Rhea), a very 

 Ktrong fibre. The most celebrated of them all, however, is Ji. nivca, from 



