UKTICACEJE. 



glomerate, variously divided spikes. $> . Calyx cymbiform, tridentate. 

 Very severe, but not permanent, pain is produced by the sting of 

 this species. 



BOHMERIA. 



$ . Calyx 4-parted. Hypogynous cup 0. Filaments 4, sub- 

 ulate ; anthers roundish, didymous. ? . Calyx 0, except a single 

 oblong scale or bractlet, of which several are clustered together. 

 Ovary 1, obovate, to each scale. Style long, filiform, feathery. 

 Achenium crowned by the permanent style. 



608 a. B. caudata Swartz fl. ind. occ. i. 279. Willd. 

 iv. 34-0. Woods of Jamaica (Swartz) of Brazil (Martius). 



Stem suffruticose. Leaves very large, opposite, ovate, acute, veiny, 

 serrated. Racemes very long, pendulous. Flowers dioecious. This 

 plant is called Asapeixe in Brazil, according to Von Martius, who states 

 that " A decoction of its leaves in baths, is prescribed in hemorrhoidal 

 complaints, and is said to produce extraordinary effects. In the 

 northern parts of Brazil, where that plant does not grow, they use, 

 instead of it, several kinds of Bohmeria and of Urtica. The family of 

 the Urticaceae seems, from the favourable results of the general use 

 made of it, to be very useful in disorders affecting the vena porta 

 perhaps from the combination of viscous, acrid, and alkaline parts in 

 their stalks and leaves." Martius Travels, Eng. Trans, ii. 94. 



HUMULUS. 



$ . Sepals 5, oblong, concave, obtuse. Filaments 5, capillary, 

 very short. Anthers vertical, oblong, of 2 cells, opening by 2 

 lateral slits. ? . Catkin of numerous, membranous, imbricated, 

 concave bracts, 1 to each floret. Calyx none, except a bractlet 

 which embraces the ovary and grows with it after flowering. Stig- 

 mas 2, awl-shaped, spreading, downy. Achenium attached to 

 the base of each enlarged, membranous, dry scale of the catkin, 

 roundish ; pericarp hard, brittle, covered by roundish aromatic 

 superficial glands, or lupuline. 



609. H.Lupulus Linn. sp. pi. 14-57. E. Bot. t. 427. Mill 

 illustr. t. 88. Smith Eng. fl. iv. 240. Bigelow Amer. Bot. iii. 

 t. 164. Common in hedges in many parts of Europe. Often 

 wild in the United States. (Hops.) 



A perennial plant, with annual stems, climbing to a great height, 

 twining from right to left, angular, rough, with minute reflexed hairs. 

 Leaves opposite on long winding petioles, the smaller ones heart- 

 shaped, the larger ones 3- or 5-lobed, serrated, veiny and extremely 

 rough. Flowering branches axillary, angular and rough. Stipules 

 2 or 4, between the petioles, ovate, reflexed. Flowers numerous and 

 of a greenish colour. Those of the males very numerous and panicled. 

 Sepals 5, oblong, obtuse, spreading, co'ncave. Stamens short ; anthers 

 oblong, bursting by 2 terminal pores. The female flowers, growing on 

 a separate plant, are in the form of a catkin, having each pair of flowers 

 supported by a bract, which is ovate, acute, tubular at base. Sepal 

 solitary, obtuse, smaller than the bract and infolding the ovary. Ovary 



296 



