78 PLANTS OF BERMUDA. 



ered ; bracts slender, three-nerved, longer than the leafy, four-cleft 

 calyx ; nutlet ovate, shining. Habitat, rocky waysides and old 

 walls, together with the previous species generally distributed 

 tlirough the Islands. Flowers greenish with white anthers ; Sep- 

 tember to March. 



III. riLEA. 



Herbs destitute of stinging hairs ; leaves opposite ; flowers imperfect, in 

 axillary clusters ; calyx three-parted^ one lobe larger and inflated below the 

 top ; stamens three. 



1. P. Microphylla (var. r). A small, perennial, Moss -like plant with 

 slender diffuse stems, two to three inches long ; leaves in unequal 

 pairs, larger one -sixth of an inch long, oval, honeycombed beneath, 

 bearing narrow transverse raphides on the upper surface ; flowers 

 very minute, in sessile axillary clusters, much shorter than the 

 leaves. Distribution, West Iftdies ; habitat, old walls near Salt- 

 kettle. Flowers pink ; October. 



A larger and more succulent variety of the above (Pilea microphylla, 

 var. serpyllifoUaJ , called the Lace plant, has found its way into almost 

 all gardens as a border for flower beds ; it has fleshy spreading stems, 

 bearing innumerable pairs of leaves of unequal size, the larger 'being 

 a third of an inch in length. The mimic force with which the 

 stamens explode when mature and eject the dust-like pollen has 

 also gained for this species the name of Artillery plant. 



IV. 150HME11IA. 



Herbs destitute of sting i^ig hairs; leaves opposite; flowers in spikes, 

 calyx four-parted, stamens four. 



1. B, cylindrica (False Nettle). A smooth, erect, herbaceous 

 plant ; stem square, two to three feet high ; leaves ovate, three to six 

 inches long, rounded at the base, coarsely toothed, slender pointed, 

 on long petioles ; spikes axillary, shorter than the leaves, male 

 interrupted, female cylindrical. " Distribution, West Indies and 

 America ; habitat, Pembroke marshes. Flowers minute, greenish ; 

 July. 



Sub-order Morese. — Trees or shrubs with a milky juice; floivers 

 nniscrual, in dense heads or spikes ; fndt formed of a drnse cluster of 

 small, one-celled, one-seeded berries. 



1. M. rubra (Mulberry). An erect, much branched tree, twenty 

 to twenty-five feet high, with a rugged bark ; leaves cordate, ovate, 

 rarely lobed, five to Giglit inches long, three to five inches wide, 

 regularly serrate, pointed ; stipules membranous, ovate ; male spike 

 an inch in length ; fruit oblong, dark red, juicy. Habitat, hedges 

 and thickets, not uncommon, also planted as a shade around houses, 

 but no attention appears to be paid to the cultivation of this fruit, 

 which tlirives well in sheltered situations. Other species, as M. mnl- 

 ticaulis (the C!hinese Mulberry), and M, macrophvlla, may be seen 



