288 APETALOUS EXOGENS 



f Leaves opposite; flowers spiked; stigma penc&tufted. 



1, U. diolca, L. Leaves cordate-ovate, conspicuously acuminate^ 

 deeply and acutely serrate; flowers mostly dioicous ; spikes longer 

 than the petioles. 



DIOICOUS URTICA. Stinging Nettle. 



Perennial. Stem 2 to 3 feet high, obtusely 4-angled, branching. Leaves 2 or 3 

 to 5 inches long; petioles % an inch to 2 inches in length. Flowers small, in in- 

 terrupted clusters, on slender axillary branching hispid spikes. 

 Hob. Waste places. Nat. of Europe. FL June. Fr. Aug. 



Obs. A naturalized nuisance, often seen about the houses of 

 slovenly farmers. Dr. DARWIN thus notices it: 



" Wide o'er the madd'ning throng URTICA flings 

 Her barbed shafts, and darts her poison'd stings." 



ff Leaves alternate; flowers paniculate; stigma subulate. 



2. 17. C'aiiarteiisis, L. Leaves ovate, acuminate, obtusely ser- 

 rate ; panicles loosely and divaricately branched. 



CANADIAN URTICA. 



Perennial. Hispid, and more or less stinging. Stem 2 to 5 feet high, rather 

 stout, terete, branching. Leaves 3 to 6 inches long, often inclining to elliptic, 

 thinnish; petioles 1 to 3 inches in length, slender. Panicles often nearly as long 

 as the leaves, the lower or early ones mostly sterile, the upper or later ones 

 fertile. Fruit smooth, larger than the sepals, obliquely orbicular-ovate, with the 

 elongated stigma deflected along one margin. 

 Hob. Miry, shaded grounds : frequent. Fl. July. Fr. Sept. 



390. PIMTA, Lindley. 

 [Latin, Pileus, a cap ; from the form of the calyx-lobes, or staminodia.] 



Flowers monoicous, both kinds often intermixed in the same panicle, 

 bracteate : STAM. FL. Sepals 3 or 4. PISTILLATE FL. Calyx with 

 3 unequal lobes, and an incurved scale (staminodium) before each. 

 Stigma sessile, pencil-tufted. Akene compressed, ovate, minutely 

 warty. Flowers greenish, minute, in paniculate corymbs. 



1. P. piimilci ? A. Gray. Stem smooth, succulent and translu- 

 cent; leaves opposite, rhombic-ovate, acuminate, crenate-serrate, 

 petiolate ; corymbs shorter than the petioles. 

 Urtica pumila. L. $ FL Cestr. ed. 2. p. 523. 

 DWARF PILEA. Kich-weed. Smooth Nettle. 



Annual. Plant yellowish-green. Stem 6 to 18 inches high, simple, or branched 

 from the base, obtusely 4-angled. Leaves 1 to 3 inches long, somewhat hairy ; 

 petioles 1 to 3 inches in length, slender, smoothish. Fruit sprinkled with brownish 

 oblong wart-like dots. 

 Hob. Moist shaded places: frequent. FL July. Fr. Sept. 



391. KOEIIMtrRIA, Jacquin. 

 [Named after George Rudolph JBoehmer, a German Botanist.] 

 Flowers chiefly dioicous, sometimes intermixed, on simple axillary 

 spikes : STAM. FL. in small bracteate clusters, on slender interrupted 

 spikes. Sepals 4 or 5. PISTILLATE FL. bracteate, in shorter and 

 thicker continuous spikes. Calyx tubular-ventricose, entire, or 



