256 cxxiiiD. URTICACE^ (Rendle). [Urera. 



Diucli lighter tlian tlie upper, both marked with numerous cystolitlis 

 resembling short slender hairs ; petiole slender, generally 1-2 in. long, 

 closely marked with short white cystoliths. Stipules caducous. 

 Male inflorescence panicle-like, rather long-stalked, sometimes ex- 

 ceeding the leaf ; flowers in clusters on the ultimate branchlets, J lin. 

 across, pedicel very short ; perianth 5-partite. Female inflorescence 

 nmch forked, generally corymbose, denser than the male, shorter 

 than the leaf, generally about 2 in. long including the peduncle (1 in. 

 long) ; flowers about J lin. long, shortly pedicelled, clustered on the 

 short ultimate flattened branchlets, which bear stinging hairs on 

 shorter or longer slender ^protuberances ; perianth somewhat 

 obliquely ovoid, sac-like, nearly or quite enveloping the ovaiy ; 

 stigma red, rounded, projecting above the perianth. Perianth fleshy 

 and orange-red in fruit, closely surrounding the achene, a little over 

 1 lin. long. — U. obovata, var. longifolia, Wedd. in DC. Prodr. xvi. i. 97. 



Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone, Vogel, 73! 74! 114! Afzeh'us \ Barter \ 

 Liberia : Mount Barclay, Bunting, 160 ! 



3. U. Thonneri, De WM. & Durand in Coniptes-rendus Soc. Bot. 

 Belg. xxxviii. 48. A shrub climbing widely and high by means of 

 adventitious roots ; stem exuding a watery sap, dingy purple, fur- 

 rowed, angular, at first erect, soon dividing into spreading sarmentose 

 branches which are reddish-brown when dry and armed especially in 

 the younger parts with short spine-like protuberances bearing stinging 

 hairs, or unarmed ; internodes up to IJ in. long. Leaves fleshy, rigid, 

 brittle, dark green and shining above, greyish beneath, oblong-elliptic 

 to elliptic, abruptly long-acuminate, the tip narrow, obtuse, about ^ in. 

 long and 1 lin. broad, base obtuse, rounded or verj^ slightly cordate, 

 margin entire, slightly undulate, 3-nerved just above the base, with 

 2 or 3 lateral nerves above on either side which are generally sub- 

 opposite, sometimes alternate, ascending and curving to unite just 

 beneath the margin, conspicuous on the lower face and cannected by 

 somewhat parallel veins, 3-5| in. long, l|—3 in. wide, upper face 

 rough with dot-like cystoliths, lower face sparsely puberulous on the 

 veins which are followed by numerous short linear conspicuous 

 cystoliths ; petiole slender (when dry) armed like the stem or un- 

 armed, puberulous, |-2 in. long. Stipules triangular-lanceolate, 

 hair}^ on the back and margin, J in. long, caducous. Inflorescences 

 arising in the axils of the fallen leaves ; male with laxly spreading 

 branches, long-stalked, the branchlets armed here and there Mith 

 stinging hairs, 4 in. long and about half as broad ; perianth green, 

 5-partite, about 1| lin. long ; female much shorter than the leaves, 

 very much branched, dense, corv^mbose, about J in. high (Angolan 

 specimens) or somewhat pyramidal, 2 in. high (Congo specimen), 

 minutely puberulous, peduncle short, about |- in. long ; flowers 

 shortly stalked, crowded, placed laterally on the short ultimate 



