PLOT F 81 



In the south-east corner of Plot F are the herbaceous 



Ord. 162. URTICACEAE, or Nettles, several of which supply 

 valuable textile fibres, manufactured by the Chinese, and in 

 India. Even the bast fibres of the Common Stinging Nettle,* 

 Urtica dioica, have been made into thread and lace in Ireland. 



Closely allied are the 



Cannabineae, or Hemp Tribe, with which the Hop, 

 Humulus lupulus, has also been associated. The fibre of 

 Cannabis sativa may be 8 ft. to 9 ft. in length. C. indica gives 

 intoxicating properties to Arabian hashisch (whence the word 

 assassin) and to Indian bhang, the demoralising effects of which 

 are well known. Also the 



Moraceae or Mulberries, including Broussonettia (see 

 p. 42), the inedible Osage Orange, Madura aurantiaca, and 

 the various forms of Figs, And lastly the 



Artocarpeae, the Bread and Jack Fruits, and other tropical genera 

 such as Cecropia, the Trumpet Tree and Galactodendron {Brosimum 

 galactodendron), the Cow Tree, a forest tree which yields an agreeable 

 liquid food to the natives of Venezuela. 



The order ULMACEAE, sometimes regarded as Ulmeae, a tribe of the 

 Urticaceae, comprise the Elm-trees which flourish greatly alongside their 

 humble relations the Stinging Nettles in the Grove of Magdalen College, 

 where, until the storm of April 1911, grew the giant of the race. Stated 

 to have been the largest timber tree 'but one in all England, its dimensions 

 are worthy of record (see Magdalen College, in Appendix E, p. 218). 



* The following is the form in which Mr. Cox tells the story about 

 Dr. Daubeny's lecture on Nettles, save that he attributes it to Sibthorp. 

 Several specimens and species were carefully laid out on the lecture-table. 

 "Now, gentlemen, we all know, from our childhood, that some of the 

 nettle family have a powerful pungent property ; others a less powerful, 

 less pungent property ; and others again none at all, or next to none. 

 Now to begin with the last species, this you see " (suiting the action to 

 the word) "may safely be drawn through the hand, thus" some wicked 

 wag, while the doctor's back was turned, had impudently changed the order 

 in which the specimens lay, or the Professor had unwittingly laid a trap 

 for himself. The effect may be imagined ! 



According to another version, he precipitately left the room. 



6 



