Urera 



UETICACE^ 



59 



or without recurved prickles underneath, especially on the nerves ; 

 cymes much branched, corymbiform ; female flowers generally 

 separated. — Griseh. loc. cit. ; Wedd. torn. cit. 93. Urtica 

 frutescens foliis amplioribus &c. Browne Hist. Jam. 337. Urtica 

 arborescens baccifera Plum. PI. Amer. (Burm.) t. 260 & Ic. pict. 

 ined. v. 312. Urtica baccifera L. Sp. PI. ed. 2, 1398 (1762) ; 

 Jacq. Hort. Schoenhr. t. 387 ; Bescourt. Fl. vi. t. 433. 



Wilso7il March; Stony Hill; Fawcettl Fl. Jam. 7177.— West Indies, 

 S. America. 



Plant 3-13 ft. high, with stinging hairs. Leaves 1-3 dm. 1., 4-5-18 

 cm. br. ; principal -veins 6-8 on each aide. Floivers dicBcious. Fruit, 

 perigone very succulent, white or rose-coloured, '5 cm. 1. 



3. FLEURYA Gaudich. 



Annual herbs, often with stinging hairs. Leaves alternate, 

 stalked, toothed, 3-nerved at base, penniveined above ; stipules 

 connate in one, bifid, intra- 

 petiolar. Flowers monoe- 

 cious or dioecious in clusters 

 on paniculate cymes ; clus- 

 ters unisexual or androgy- 

 nous ; panicles solitary, 

 axillary. Bracts few. Male 

 flowers : perianth 4-(5-)par- 

 tite, subvalvate or slightly 

 imbricate. Stamens 4(-5). 

 Ovary rudimentary. Female 

 flowers : perianth-segments 

 4, imbricate. Ovary at 

 length oblique ; stigma 

 at length hooked ; ovule 

 erect from the base. Achene 

 oblique, compressed, ex- 

 serted. Seed of same form, 

 with scarcely any endo- 

 sperm ; cotyledons broad. 



Species 8, widely distributed through the tropics and extending 

 into South Africa. 



Fig. 19.— Fleurya eestuans Gaudich. 



A, Leaf and inflorescence. 



B, Male flower bud. 



C, Male flower. D, Fruit. 



F. sestuans Gaudich. in Freyc. Voy. Bot. 497 (1826) k in 

 Voy. Bonite, t. 83 ; Griseh. Fl. Br. W. Lid. 154: ; Bak. in Befug. 

 Bot. t. 38; Wedd. in DC. Prodr. xvi.pt. 1, 71. Urtica sestuans 

 L. Sp. PI. ed. 2, 1397 (1762). (Fig. 19.) 



Caley I Burlington, Harris ! Fl. Jam. 5981. — West Indies, tropical 

 continental America, tropical Africa. 



