402 LXVII. URTlCACEiE. [Boehmeria. 



2. BOEHMERIA, Jacq. 



Shrubs or small trees with opposite or alternate toothed or occasionally 

 lobed simple stipulate leaves. Flowers small dioicous or monoicous, in 

 globose usually 1 -sexual clusters. Male fl. : perianth 4- (rarely 3-) -lobed 

 or -partite, segments valvate in aestivation. Stamens as many as perianth- 

 segments. Pistil rudimentary. Female fl. : perianth tubular, compressed 

 or ventricose, usually narrowed to a minutely 2-4-toothed mouth. Ovary 

 free or adherent, 1 -celled, with a solitary erect or ascending ovule ; style 

 laterally stigmatose. Nut dry. Seed with more or less albumen. 



Leaves alternate ; branches terete. 



Leaves broad-ovate, acuminate ; petiole half the length of 



leaf or longer . . . . . . . . 1. B. nivea. 



Leaves elliptic-lanceolate ; petiole many times shorter than 



leaf 2. B. rugulosa. 



Leaves opposite ; branches four- sided. 



Leaves broad-ovate ; petiole one-fourth the length of leaf or 



longer * 3. B. platyphylla. 



Leaves lanceolate ; petiole many times shorter than leaf . 4. B. macrophylla. 



1. B. nivea, Hook, et Am. ; DC. Prodr. xvi. i. 206 ; Hooker's Journal 

 of Botany, iii. (1851) 315, t. 8. Syn. Urtica nivea, Linn. U. ienacis 

 sima, Eoxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 590 ; Wight Ic. t. 688. China grass, Rheea. 



A shrub ; young branches and shoots herbaceous, branches and peti- 

 oles tomentose, with long soft hairs. Leaves alternate, broad-ovate, 3-6 

 in. long, acuminate, dentate with large triangular, slightly curved teeth, 

 base truncate but tapering suddenly into petiole, the upper side of leaf 

 pubescent and rough, the under side white, densely matted with closely 

 adpressed hairs ; basal nerves 3, all penniveined, the lateral nerves joined 

 by prominent transverse veins ; petiole half the length of leaf or longer, 

 stipules subulate, deciduous. Flowers greenish, monoicous, in axillary 

 panicles ; panicles in pairs, shorter than petiole, bearing numerous sessile 

 flower-heads along their entire length, female panicles in the upper, male 

 panicles in the lower axils. Style much exserted, hairy. 



Indigenous, and cultivated in China, Japan, and the Indian Archipelago 

 Cultivated an Assam, upper Bengal, and (within the last 20 years) in North- West 

 India. Fl. July-Sept. The inner bark of the young shoots contains one of the 

 finest fibres produced by the vegetable kingdom. It is soft, fine, with a beauti- 

 ful silky gloss, and at the same time exceedingly strong. The exquisite texture 

 known under the name of China grass cloth are made of it. Examined unde: 

 the microscope, Rheea fibre consists of large single tubes or elementary fibres, 

 whereas the fibre of jute, hemp, and flax, consists of bundles of tubes or elemen- 

 tary fibres. The elementary fibres of Rheea are much longer than those of jute, 

 hemp, or flax. Cotton, like Rheea, consists of single tubes (hairs), but they are 

 thinner, much shorter, and less strong. Rheea fibre is an article vastly superio: 

 to jute (the produce of Cor chorus capsularis, p. 37). Both fibres were brough 

 to notice in Europe about the beginning of this century, both are produced ii 

 Bengal, but the value of the jute exported from India exceeds ,4,000,000 a-year 

 and is now inferior in value only to the exports of cotton^ opium, and rice, whereas 

 the export of Rheea is as yet insignificant. The reason of this is twofold. Th< 

 preparation of jute is easy, and that of Rheea difficult ; and secondly, jute thrive 



