NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



inches long, 2 to 3^ inches wide ; petioles sheathing the stem at the enlarged 

 nodes; the stem terminating in one or two elongated white spikes, their tips 

 drooping in flower. Flowers fragrant, small, white, without any perianth; 

 stamens six to eight, white, spreading; ovary consisting of three or four 

 carpels united at the base, becoming slightly fleshy and strongly wrinkled 

 in fruit. 



In swamps and shallow water, Rhode Island to Florida west to southern 

 Ontario, Minnesota and Texas. Flowering from June to August. 



Nettle Family 



Urticaceae 

 False Nettle 



Boehmeria cylindrica (Linnaeus) Swartz 



Plate 45 



A perennial, rough-pubescent or nearly smooth, erect plant, I to 3 

 feet tall, not provided with stinging hairs as are the true nettles. Leaves 

 mostly opposite, thin, petioled, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, coarsely toothed, 

 i to 4 inches long, one-half to i inches wide. Flowers greenish, small and 

 dioecious, that is, some of the axillary spikes containing only staminate 

 flowers, and others only pistillate flowers, or some of the spikes containing 

 both kinds of flowers (androgynous) ; the staminate spikes interrupted, the 

 pistillate mostly continuous, one-fourth to i inches long, often terminated 

 by small leaves. 



In moist soil and thickets, Quebec and Ontario to Minnesota, Florida, 

 Texas and the West Indies. Flowering from July to September. Not an 

 attractive plant but figured here as a representative of the Nettle family, 

 none of our species having conspicuous flowers. The True or Stinging 

 Nettle (Urtica dioica Linnaeus), naturalized in the eastern states 

 from Europe, the Slender Wild Nettle (Urtica gracilis Aiton) and 

 the Wood Nettle (Urticastrum divaricatum (Linnaeus) Kuntze) 

 are all provided with stinging hairs and are most unpleasant plants to 

 encounter unexpectedly in the woods. 



