Droguetia.] cxxiiid. urticace^ (Rcndlc)- 305 



branches, spai'seiy liispidulous abuvf, glabrate bulow. Leaves 

 alternate, ovate, acute, base blunt, entire, nuirtfin a.bove base erenale- 

 serrate, -J to barely 1 in. lon^, 0-3 i»- wide, 3-nerved, nieiul)ranous, 

 <i;reen on both faces but paler beneath. up})er face scabrid witii tiie 

 ch)ttetl eystoliths and sparsely hispid, lower face hispid on the slender 

 nerves ; petiole very slender, half the lenj^th of the blade or less, 

 liispidulous. Stipules ovate-acuminate, scarious, white with a ^^Teeii 

 hispidulous niidvein, about 1 lin. long. Inflorescence axillary, com- 

 prising a pair of androgynous involucres above each stipule and t^^u 

 younger female dichasia lateral at the base of the undeveloped 

 axillary shoot ; androgynous involucre becoming ventricose, with 

 toothed margin, about 1 lin. long in fruit, puberulous on outside, 

 containing 3 male and 2 female Howlers. Female involucre, as in 

 D. iners, l-tlowered. Male flower shortly stalked, mid-lobe of 

 perianth shortly acute. Achene black, not shining, about .^ lin. long. 



Nile Land. Uganda : Mau, shady wood at 700U-80UU ft., .b'co// j:iliot, 

 ()7y9 ! 



17. AUSTRALINA, Gaud. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. iii. 39i. 



Flowers monoecious, in clusters in the leaf-axils, without an 

 involucre. Male flowers few to many, sessile or shortly stalked ; 

 perianth club-shaped in bud, after opening tubular below with a 

 broad outer acuminate lobe, or ultimately splitting almost to the 

 base. Stamen 1. Ovary-rudiment absent. Female flowers few, 

 sessile ; perianth sac-like enveloping the ovary, with contracted 

 minutely toothed mouth, or absent. Ovary straight ; stigma fili- 

 form or narrow-linear ; ov-ule erect from the base. Achene included 

 in the membranous or slightly fleshy perianth, or naked ; pericarp 

 thin. Seed conforming to the pericarp, testa thin ; albumen very 

 scanty ; cotyledons broadly elliptic. — Diffuse annual or perennial 

 herbs. Leaves alternate or opposite, stalked, toothed ; stipules 

 lateral, free or sometimes joined below, scarious. Male Hower- 

 clusters sessile or stalked, female sessile. 



Species 6, in Australia, New Zealand and South and Tropical Africa. 



Leaves opposite ... ... ... ... ... ... 1.^-1. flacctda. 



Leaves alternate 2. A. iicuminaUt. 



1. A. flaccida, WeM. in DC. Prodr. xvi. i. 235«o. A weak herb 

 with slender elongated creeping stems up to 1 ft. or even 3 ft. in 

 length, hirtellous as are the shorter (4-8 in. long) ascemling branches ; 

 lower internodes | to H in. long, the few up^iermost short, the leaves 

 being aggregated at tlie end of the shoot. Leaves opposite, very 

 shortly stalked, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, extreme apex 

 blunt, base rounded to blunt, nuirgin above base crenate-serrate, 

 IJ-IJ in. long, 3-7 lin. wide, or even smaller on the branchlelB, 



