URTICACEiE. 131 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Annual. Summer, Autumn. 



Stem erect, commonly much branched, 9 inches to 2 feet high. Leaves 

 1 to 3 inches long, with the widest part nearer the middle than in the 

 other British nettles, and with the lateral veins from the base slightly 

 converging towards the midrib before they disappear; teeth few, very 

 large and sharp. Spikes ^ to 1 inch long; some of the flowers 

 stalked. Seeds similar to that of U. dioica, but a little larger, and 

 scarcely so broad in proportion. It is of a brighter green than 

 the other British nettles, and is also more glabrous, having scarcely 

 any hairs except the stinging ones. 



Small Nettle. 



French, Ortie hriUante. German, Brennende Nessel. 



Sub-Order II.— CANNABINEiE. 



Flowers dioecious, not arranged on a fleshy clinanth nor spadix. 

 Filaments short, not inflexed in bud. Ovar}^ 1-celled, with a single 

 erect orthotropous ovule ; stigmas 2. Fruit an achene. Albumen 

 none ; embryo hooked or coiled ; radicle near the hilum. 



GENUS III.—C A N N A B I S. Toumef, 



Flowers dioecious. Male flowers with the perianth of 5 nearly equal 

 sepals : stamens 5, pendulous. Female flowers each in the axil of a 

 minute bract : perianth split on one side and resembling a spathe, and 

 enfolding the ovary: style short; stigmas 2, elongate and filiform. 

 Achene indehiscent, but the 2 valves separating on pressure ; embryo 

 hooked, but the cotyledons not rolled up spirally. 



An erect annual herb, with opposite stalked digitate leaves, with 5 

 to 7 leaflets, the upper leaves with fewer. Male flowers in a lax ter- 

 minal panicle ; female flowers sessile, in glomerules in the axils of the 

 leaves and in a spike at the apex of the stem. 



The name of this genus of plants is derived from the Greek word tcavrafiic (kannahis)^ 

 which is supposed to be the Arabic name for the hemp. 



SPECIES I.— CANNABIS SATIVA. Linn. 

 Plate MCCLXXX. 

 Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XII. Tab. DCLV. Fig. 1325. 



The only known species. 



In waste places and cultivated ground. Frequent about towns, espe- 

 cially in localities frequented by bird-catchers, but not permanently 

 naturalised. 



s2 



