URT 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



UTR 



783 



50. Urtica Canadensis ; Canada, Nettle. Leaves alternate, 

 cordate, ovate ; aments branched ; distichs erect ; root peren- 

 nial ; stems two feet high. The plant is at first male only, 

 but afterwards male and female flowers are produced on the 

 same plant. Native of Canada and Virginia. It may be 

 increased by parting the roots in the spring, and will endure 

 the severest cold of this climate in any soil or situation. 



51. Urtica Hirsuta. Leaves alternate, cordate, ovate, ser- 

 rate ; racemes compound ; stem and petioles rough-haired. 

 Native of Arabia. 



52. Urtica Interrupta. Leaves alternate, ovate, cordate, 

 serrate, somewhat shorter than the petiole ; spikes solitary, 

 interrupted. Stem herbaceous, annual, two feet high, 

 roundish, hispid, red, sometimes creeping. Native of China 

 and Cochin-china. 



53. Urtica Nivea ; Chinese or White-leaved Nettle. Leaves 

 alternate, suborbicular, sharp at both ends, tomentose be- 

 neath. Stem herbaceous, biennial, erect, round, five feet 

 high ; flowers axillary, in loose aments, and not succeeded by 

 seeds in England, where it flowers in August and September. 

 Thread and cordage, even of the larger kind, for shipping, 

 are made of Nettles in Japan. Different sorts grow wild 

 upon the hills there, and frequently attain a considerable size. 

 The species most used are this and the 58th species, Japo- 

 nica. The bark properly prepared (see directions under the 

 13th species,) produces strong cordage and threads, so fine 

 that even linen is made of them : it also makes very durable 

 nets ; and at Otaheite, from the bark of one species of Net- 

 tle, which the natives call Erowa, they make the best fishing 

 lines in the world, such as will hold the strongest and most 

 active fish. The Japanese express an oil from the seeds of 

 this species. Native of the East Indies, China, Cochin- 

 china, and Japan. It may be increased by parting the roots 

 in May. The plants should be set in pots filled with light 

 earth, housed in winter, and exposed to the open air only for 

 three months, in the heat of summer. It is a handsome plant. 



54. Urtica Baccifera ; Berry-bearing Nettle. Leaves alter- 

 nate, cordate, toothed, prickly ; stem shrubby; female calices 

 berried. This is a small tree, from sixteen to eighteen feet 

 high, simple, except at the top, where it is subdivided, sca- 

 brous, and prickly ; racemes cauline, many-parted, prickly, 

 red ; flowers at the ends of the branchlets, sessile," dioecious ; 

 seeds small and black. Native of the West Indies, upon 

 lofty mountains, and in shady places, flowering in spring. 



55. Urtica Capensis. Leaves alternate, cordate, crenate, 

 pubescent underneath ; spikes interrupted ; stem erect, round, 

 scarcely pubescent, harmless. Native of the Cape. 



56. Urtica Frutescens. Leaves alternate, oblong, cusped, 

 snow-white underneath ; stem suffruticose, erect, purple ; 

 branches alternate, from erect spreading. Native of Japan. 



57. Urtica Stimulans; Buffalo Nettle. Leaves alternate, 

 oblong, attenuated towards the base, entire ; panicles axil- 

 lary. The leaves of this small shrub sting like our common 

 Nettles, but much more violently. On every vein are sharp- 

 pointed hollow prickles, containing the fluid which produces 

 the irritation. The Japanese call it Kamadu, and the Dutch 

 colonists, Buffelblad or Buffalo-leaf, because it is customary 

 with the Javanese princes, on holidays, by way of diversion, 

 to turn out a tiger and a buffalo to fight, in an area fenced 

 in with planks. When the buffalo is tardy in attacking his 

 adversary, he is flogged with this plant, which causes such a 

 heat and inflammation in his skin, that he soon becomes 

 quite outrageous. When any one is stung with this Nettle- 

 tree, they anoint the part with oil, or with rice boiled to a 

 soft consistence, as water would only render the pain more 

 intolerable. Native of Java. 



VOL. II. 131. 



58. Urtica Japonica. Leaves alternate, cordate, villose ; 

 flowers glomerate, headed; stem four-cornered, grooved, 

 erect, pubescent. It differs from the 48th species, in having 

 a pubescent stem ; hairy leaves unequally serrate ; and subglo- 

 bular little balls of flowers. Thick ropes and cables for ships 

 are made of the bark of this Nettle. Native of Japan. 



59. Urtica Muralis. Leaves alternate, ovate, three-nerved, 

 pubescent, serrate ; heads axillary, sessile. Stem round, pu- 

 bescent, hoary at top ; leaves an inch and half long, not 

 stinging. Found on the walls of coffee-gardens in Arabia. 



60. Urtica Villosa. Leaves alternate, cordate, rough- 

 haired; globules sessile. Stem herbaceous, round, scarcely 

 a span high ; branches alternate, spreading very much, with 

 globules of small sessile flowers scattered over them. Native 

 of Japan. 



Uste-ria; a genus of the class Monandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, 

 four-toothed, permanent ; segments four, obtuse, three of 

 them very small, the fourth much larger, lanceolate. Co- 

 rolla : one-petalled, funnel-form ; tube narrow, longer than 

 the calix ; border four-toothed, acute, erect. Stamina : fila- 

 menta one, short, placed on the tube; anther arrow-shaped. 

 Pistil: germen oblong, superior; style capillary, longer than 

 the corolla ; stigma quite simple, corrugated. Pericarp : cap- 

 sule oblong, compressed, two-grooved, two-celled, two-valved. 

 Seeds : imbricated in two rows, oblong, clothed with a thin 

 membranaceous aril. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : four- 

 toothed, with one segment much larger than the rest. Co- 

 rolla: funnel-form, four-toothed. Capsule: two-celled, with 



inflexed partitions. Seeds: imbricated, winged. The 



only species is, 



1. Usteria Volubilis. Stem shrubby, with long, slender, 

 opposite, round, twining branches, supporting themselves on, 

 the neighbouring plants ; leaves opposite, roundish, ovate, 

 quite entire; flowers in terminating panicles. The negroes 

 know this plant by the name of Makbbt, and sometimes cure 

 fevers with an infusion of the leaves and young branches. 

 The bark when first chewed is sweet, but afterwards bitter. 

 Native of Guinea, especially of Sierra Leone. 



Utricularia; a genus of the class Diandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth two-leaved ; 

 leaflets ovate, concave, very small, equal, deciduous. Co- 

 rolla : one-petalled, ringent ; upper lip flat, obtuse, erect ; 

 lower bigger, flat, entire ; its palate heart-shaped, prominent 

 between the lips. Nectary horned, produced from the base 

 of the petal. Stamina : filamenta two, very short, curved in ; 

 anthera small, cohering. Pistil: germen globular, large; 

 style filiform, length of the calix; stigma conical. Pericarp: 

 capsule globular, large, one-celled. Seeds: numerous, small, 

 attached to a large globular receptacle. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Corolla : ringent, spurred. Calix : two-leaved, 

 equal. Capsule: one-celled. The species are, 



1. Utricularia Alpina ; Alpine Bladderwort. Nectary awl- 

 shaped ; leaves ovate, quite entire. Roots fibrous, ash- 

 coloured, with small round tubercles, as in the potato; 

 scape simple, leafless, one or two flowered, smooth, erect, 

 half a foot high ; flowers elegant, very large, white, with the 

 calix and nectary slightly tinged with yellow ; they appear 

 in February. Native of Martinico, upon wet open meadows 

 in the higTiest mountains. 



2. Utricularia Foliosa ; Fennel-leaved Bladderwort. Nec- 

 tary conical ; fruits drooping ; radicles destitute of append- 

 ages, creeping. Native of South America. 



3. Utricularia Vulgaris ; Common Bladderwort, or Hooded 

 Milfoil. Nectary conical; scape few-flowered. The fibrous 

 floating roots, slightly attached to the stem, are supposed to 



9 N 



