URTlCACEiB (NETTLE FAMILY.) 729 



a membranous ^\•ing — Trees with leaves unequal at base, caducous 

 stipules, and flowers jn-eceding leaver, arranged in lateral clusters. 



I', campestris, L. 5 ^ ^^ 1'^- Leaves -ovate to oblong-lanceo- 

 late, A to .8 long, short-acuminate, serrate, pubescent or glabrous. 

 Flower clusters subsessile, pedicels short; peri gonium equally 5 -cleft, 

 lobes ciliatc; stamens 4-5; samara obovate, .015 long, margin entire, 

 notched at tip ; seed near sinus — Flowering in spring — Aleppo, Ain- 

 tab, and northward. 



2. CEL.TIS, L. Nettle-tkee. IIackbekry. Mais. 

 Flowers perfect, or by abortion polygamous. Sepals 5-G, ovate, 

 imbricated in bud. Stamens 5-6, opposite the sepals, incurved in bud, 

 straightening themselves elastically in flower ; anthers introrse. Stigmas 

 2, long, papillose. Drupe globular-ovate, slightly fleshy ; stone bony 

 — Trees, with watery juice, alternate leaves, and quickly falling stipules. 

 ^taminate floioc7's solitary in ViX\\^\ ijistillate more or less clustered. 



€, australis, L. 5 Southern Hackberry. Mais, 10 or more. 

 Leaves with rounded or wedge-shaped, oblique base, ovate-lanceolate, 

 .1 to .15 long, long-acuminate, acutely serrate, soft-pubescent beneath. 

 Fruiting peduncles much longer than petioles; drupe black, .01 long; 

 seed netted, roughened — Spring — Common in cultivation as a shade 

 tree. Spontaneous in lower mountain regions along coast, and in 

 Jordan Valley. 



Flowers monoecious rarely diacious, 

 arranged in spikes or heads. Staminate floicers : 

 sepals 4 ; stamens 4, the filaments inflexed in 

 l)ud. Pistillate fiowers : sg^qX^ 4:-^, OY-^ie^ con- 

 cave, at length becoming succulent, and enclos- 

 ing the 2-celled ovary; stigmas 2; fruit a syii- 

 carpium, composed of the capitate-spiked, by 

 abortion 1-seeded, fleshy sepals, which have be- 

 come coalesced by pressure ; testa of seed hard, 

 brittle; embryo hooked — Trees with milky 

 juice, and alternate leaves. 



1. M. tiisra. L. .4 Sycamine. Tat- liipc fmit of a mul. 

 Skdmi. 8 to 10. Leaves cordate-ovate, lobed ffi^;i?;:32"ti^nas: 

 or undivided, .1 to .15 long. Fruiting spiles 



subsessile; fruit oblong, .03 to ..03 long, acid; marffin of sepals and 

 stigmas villous — Early summer — Cultivated everywhere for its deli- 

 cious berries. 



2. m. alba, L. 5 ]\Iulbcrry. Tdt heledi. 5 to 8. Leaves cor- 

 date-ovate, usually oblique at base, entire, serrate, or lobed, .1 to .2 

 long. Peduncles as long as fruiting spikes; fruit oblong, .01 to .015 

 long, siceetish, insiirid ; margin of sepals glabrous; stigmas glabrous or 

 short -j^apillose — Early summer — Cultivated everywhere for its leaves, 

 which are used as food for silk-worms. 



4. FICUS, L. Fig. Tin. 

 Flowers moucecious or dioecious, inserted on the inner wall of a 

 fleshy, hollow, globular-pyriform receptacle, which is bracted at base, 



95 



