Pilea 



URTICACE^ 



81 



segment; median segment -S-'l mm. 1., obovate when flattened, dorsal 

 appendage spreading, tuberculate ; lateral segments nearly as long, and 

 similar. 



5. B(EHMERIA Jacq. 



Shrubs or small trees, or (B. cylindrica) suffrutescent or 

 herbaceous, more or less pubescent; no stinging hairs. Leaves 

 opposite or alternate, equal- or unequal-sided, toothed, 3-nerved ; 

 stipules free, deciduous. Flowers moncecious or dioecious, in 

 globose clusters. Clusters almost always unisexual, sessile in 

 axils or at the nodes or along the rhachis of a spike. Bracts 

 small, scarious. Male flowers : perianth 3- or 4 (5)-partite, valvate; 



Fig. 20. — Boehmeria cylindrica Sw. 



A, Portion of slioot with inflor- 

 escence. 



B, Enlarged portion of inflorescence 



showing male (m), and female 

 if) flowers. 



C, D, Fruit, front and side views. 



E, Fruit with seed in transverse 

 section. 



C ^>^8 D 



stamens 3 or 4 (5) ; ovary rudimentary. Female flowers : perianth 

 tubular, contracted at the mouth, 2-4-toothed, sometimes in 

 fruit enlarged ; ovary included in perianth ; stigma filiform, 

 persistent, hairy on one side ; ovule erect from the base. Achene 

 enclosed in the marceecent perianth. Seed of similar form, with 

 endosperm ; cotyledons elliptical or ovate. 



Species, more than 50, natives of the warmer regions of the 

 world, mostly in the tropics. 



Flower-clusters axillary, leaves alternate. 



Female perianth glabrous, style 1-1*5 mm. 1 1. B. jamaicensis. 



Female perianth hairy, style 3-5 mm. 1 2. B. ramiflora. 



Flower-clusters in spikes. 



Spikes pendulous, without leaves at apex. Leaves 



opposite 3. B. caudata. 



Spikes erect, with a few small leaves at apex. Leaves 



opposite on stem, alternate on branches 4. B. cylindrica. 



1. B. jamaicensis Urh. Symh. Ant. v. 329, 330, fig. B. (1907) ; 

 moncecious or dioecious ; leaves alternate, of two forms, the larger 

 stalked, ovate-lanceolate or lanceolate, base obtuse and a little 



G 



