284 cxxiiiD. URTiCACE^ (Rendle). [Procris, 



solitary or fascicled in the lower leaf-axils or at the bare nodes; 

 peduncle filiform, up to J in. long ; pedicel shorter than the flower. 

 Perianth in bud depressed-globose, about 2 lin. long, divided for 

 three-quarters of its length, 2 outer segments narrower than the 

 inner, all elliptic, concave, rounded above, with a very short dorsal 

 mucro below the apex. Stamens attached above the base. Rudir 

 ment of ovary minute. Female receptacles generally 5-4-fascicled 

 at the lower leafy and naked nodes, head spherical to transversely 

 ellipsoid, in fruit 2-4 lin. broad ; peduncles stout, 1-2 lin. long. 

 Achenes crowded, brown, ovoid, somewhat compressed, generally 

 subacute, about J lin. long, surrounded at the base by the small 

 imbricate rotund perianth-leaves which are indistinguishable from 

 the bracteoles. — P. IcBvigata. Wedd. in DC. Prodr. xvi. i. 192, partly ; 

 not of Bl. Bijdr. 508 ; Hook. Ic. PI. t. 1295 ; Hook. f. Fl. Br. Ind. 

 v. 575. Elatostema IcBvigatum, Hassk. Cat. Hort. Bogor. 79. E. 

 wifjhtiamwi, Wedd. in Ann. Sci. Nat. 4me ser. i. 188 (name only). 



Upper Guinea. Fernando Po, Mann, 566 ! Cameroons : Buea, Preuaa, 

 963 ! Ix)lodorf, Zenker, 1386 ! 



Nile Land. Uganda : Mabira Forest at 4000 ft., Dawe, 165 ! 

 Lower Guinea. Princes Island, Barter, 2028 ! Angola, Curror, 126 ! 

 Mozamb. Dietr. German East Africa : Amani, Herb. Amani, 431 ! 



Also in India, Ceylon, Malaya, and the Mascarene Islands, 



11. BCEHMERIA, Jacq. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 387. 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious, in globose clusters. Male : Peri- 

 anth 4-lobed or 4-partite, rarely 3- or 5-partite, lobes or segments 

 membranous, valvate, sometimes with a short appendage beneath 

 the apex. Stamens as many as the perianth-segments. Ovary 

 rudiment small. Female : Perianth tubular, compressed or ventri- 

 cose, generally contracted at the mouth and 2-4-toothed, persistent 

 in fruit. Ovary enveloped by the perianth, and sometimes adhering 

 to it, sessile or stalked ; stigma apical, continuous with the ovary, 

 long, very slender, hairy on one side, persistent ; ovule erect from 

 the base. Achene enclosed by the persistent perianth and some- 

 times adnate to it ; pericarp thinly crustaceous. Seed conforming 

 to the pericarp ; testa thin ; albumen varying in quantity ; cotyle- 

 dons elliptic. — Small trees, shrubs or undershrubs, the younger 

 portions more or less softly hairy. Leaves opposite or alternate, 

 stalked, equal-sided or unequal-sided, toothed, 3-nerved ; cystoliths 

 dot-like. Stipules axillary, generally free or joined only at the 

 base, deciduous. Flower-clusters generally unisexual, sessile at the 

 nodes or distributed on the rhachis of a spike or on the branches 

 of a panicle-like cyme. Bracts small, scarious. 



Species more than 60, natives of warmer regions ; most?^' tropical. 



