224 FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND. [ Urticee. 
eucalyptoides, et myrtifolia, A. Cunn. Prodr. Variat folus anguste lineari-lanceolatis et late obovatis, ju- 
nioribus oppositis punctulatis margine crispatis. 
Has. Northern Island. From the east coast northwards, Cunningham, etc. Nat. name, “ Maire,” 
Colenso. 
This is one of innumerable instances of the impropriety of adopting native names for scientific purposes. 
This plant is not the “ Mida” of the New Zealander, as Mr. Colenso assures me, but the “ Maire,” and closely re- 
sembles Zugenia Maire, the “ Maire Tawake.” I have hence not hesitated to suppress a name which conveys no 
meaning to botanists in general, and can only confuse the New Zealand student. My own experience in botanical 
nomenclature has convinced me that the practice of adopting local names for species of plants is highly unadvisable; 
it has introduced confusion into the botany of every country, and served no good purpose. 
Nar. Og». LXXVII. URTICEA, Juss. 
Gen. I. TROPHIS, P. Browne. 
Flores dioici. Fu. 4 amentacei, bracteati. Perianthium 4-phyllum. Stamina 4. Fr. 9 axillares, 
solitarii. Perianthium maris. Ovarium ovatum, stylo brevi, stigmatibus 2. Drupa ovata. — Cotyledones 
contortuplicatee. 
The “ Milk-tree ” of the Nelson and Wellington colonists is described by Mr. Bidwill and Dr. Sinclair as pro- 
ducing a milk which is used with tea, and is egually suitable for the purpose with that of the cow; it is also drunk 
as it flows from the tree, and is good and sweet, but has a vegetable after-taste.—A large tree, 60 feet high, very 
variable in habit, form, and foliage, often extremely like Carpodetus serratus. Branches brittle, covered with dark 
brown bark. Leaves alternate, petioled, 3—2 inches long, dark green, obovate-oblong, serrate, veined. Male flowers 
in slender catkins, which are axillary and solitary or panicled, often becoming diseased, and forming masses of 
pendulous, flowerless, bracteate peduncles. Perianth minute, seated in a small bract, four-leaved. Stamens four. 
Female flowers solitary or few together, in very short spikes, each bracteate. Ovary ovoid. Fruit a small red berry, 
terminated with the two stigmata. The species of this genus are ill-defined and chiefly tropical; some have been 
referred to Epicarpurus of Blume, in which M. Raoul places this, but that genus is described as having the female 
perianth swollen and fleshy, and the male with two bracteolee. (Name from rpepw, to nourish.) 
1. Trophis? opaca, Banks et Sol.; inermis, ramulis ultimis amentisque puberulis, foliis obovatis 
elliptico-oblongisve serratis. Banks et Sol. MSS. et lc. Epicarpurus microphyllus, Raoul, Chow de 
Plantes, p. 14. t. 9. 
Haz. Northern and Middle Islands, Banks and Solander, ete. Nat. name, “ Towai,” Raoul. 
Gen. II. URTICA, Z. 
Flores unisexuales, glomerati v. remoti, spicis racemisve dispositi. Fr. g. Perianthium 4-5-partitum. 
Stamina 4-5. Fu.. Perianthium 4-phyllum ; foliolis exterioribus minoribus v. 0. Ovarium liberum. 
Stigma sessile v. elongatum. Achenium oblongum, perianthio inclusum. Cotyledones ovatee. 
The New Zealand Nettles are similar in general appearance to the English, but quite different specifically. As 
a genus Urtica is known by its small unisexual flowers, collected into little heads, or solitary, scattered along 
axillary spikes or panicles. Male fl. :—Perianth four- or five-parted. Stamens four or five. Female fl. :—Perianth of 
four leaflets, which enclose the ripe achenium; the latter consists of a compressed nut, with a thread-shaped long style, 
or short, sessile, feathery stigma. Ootyledons ovate, plano-convex.—This genus is found in most parts of the world. 
Some of the species do not sting ; those that do so, effect it by the breaking off the ends of the stings, which con- 
