PARIKTARIA.] URTICE^. 333 



axillary clusters, mostly 2-sexual, in a 3-6-lobed few-flowered involucre. 

 Calyx elongate and tubular after flowering. -DiSTRiB. Europe, N. Africa, 

 W. 'Asia. 



ORDER LXXI. CANNABl'NEJE. 



Annual or perennial, erect or twining herbs ; juice watery. Leaves 

 opposite, or the upper alternate, simple or compound, stipulate, often 

 glandular. Flowers minute, dioecious. MALE racemed or panicled. Sepals 

 5, free, imbricate in bud. Stamens 5, adnate to the base of the sepals ; 

 anthers oblong, basifixed, dehiscing in front. FEMALE in cones or fasci- 

 cled, bracteate and bracteolate. Sepal 1, membranous, bract-like. Ovary 

 free, compressed ; styles 2, subulate, stigmatic all over ; ovule 1, pendu- 

 lous, campylotropous, micropyle superior. Fruit dry, indehiscent, enclosed 

 in the sepal. Seed pendulous, testa coriaceous, inner coat thin, albumen ; 

 embryo coiled or curved, radicle superior. DISTRIB. N. temp, and trop. 

 regions ; genera 2 ; species 3. AFFINITIES. With Urticece. PROPERTIES. 

 Bitter, aromatic, narcotic ; fibre tenacious. 



1. HU'MULUS, L. HOP. 

 Twining, perennial. Leaves lobed ; stipules connate. MALE fl. in lax 



panicles. FEMALE in pairs in the bracts of the catkin. Stamens erect ; 



anthers dehiscing by subterminal slits. Embryo a flat spiral. DISTRIB. 



N. temp, regions ; species 2. ETYM. doubtful. 



1. H. Iiu'pulus, L. ; bracts of catkins much enlarged scarious. 



Hedges and copses from York southwards ; introd. in Scotland, where it 

 ascends to 1,000 ft. in the Highlands ; rare and not indigenous in Ireland ; 

 tt. July-Aug. Eootstock stout, branched. Steins tall, scabrid, almost prickly, 

 very tough ; branchlets glabrate. Leaves 3-4 in. diam., cordate, petioled, 

 uppermost ovate, the rest palmately 3-5-lobed to the middle ; lobes ovate, 

 acutely toothed. Male jt. in. diam., in panicles 3-5 in. : female in 

 catkins i in. diam., on curved peduncles |-1 in. ; stigmas purple. Fruiting 

 catkin if in., broadly ovoid or subglobose," yellow ; scales orbicular,- covered 

 with resinous glands at the base, as are the bracteoles and fruit. DISTRIB. 

 Temp. Europe, Asia, N. America. Catkins used in brewing ; the young 

 blanched foliage is a good pot-herb. 



ORDER LXXII. ULMA'CE.ffi. 



Trees or shrubs ; juice watery. Leaves alternate, simple, distichous, 

 oblique, scabrid ; stipules caducous. Flowers 2-sexual, fascicled, lateral. 

 Calyx campanulate, 4-5- or 8-9-fid, imbricate in bud, persistent. Sta- 

 mens 4-5 or 8-9, adnate to the calyx-tube ; anthers fixed by the back, 

 bursting outwards. Ovary free, 1-2-celled ; styles 2, subulate, stigmatic 

 on the inner face ; ovule 1 in each cell, pendulous, anatropous. Fruit dry, 

 1 -seeded, winged or not. Seed pendulous, testa thin, albumen ; embryo 

 straight, cotyledons large flat or folded, radicle superior. DISTRIB. 

 N. U-ni]). /<me; genera 3-4 ; species about 18. AFFINITIES. With Urticece. 

 PROPERTIES. Bitter, mucilaginous, astringent. 



