404 LXVII. UKTIOACEiE. [Boehmeria. 



pubescent beneath, upper side rough, the substance of the leaf projecting 

 in raised augular plots between the impressed veins, basal nerves 3, the side 

 nerves extending through three-fourths of the length of leaf, the midrib 

 penniveined in its upper part. Stipules lanceolate, with a prominent 

 hairy midrib, petioles strigose, 1 in. long. Flowers monoicous, in long 

 drooping axillary simple spikes ; the clusters of flowers in the axils of 

 lanceolate bracts. 



Kaniaon, Nepal, Sikkim, ascending to 4000 feet. Kasia hills. Fl. Aug.-Sept. 



The true nettles {Urtica, Girardinia, Laportea) differ from Boehmeria 

 and its allies by stinging hairs and the perianth of the female flower being 2-4- 

 cleft, not tubulose. Girardinia Jieterophylla, D ne - in Jacq. Voy. Bot. t. 153 

 Syn. Urtica heterophylla, Willd. Vern. Im, Jhelam ; Kingi, Chenab ; Iw, 

 sanoli, Ravi ; An,jdn, kal, Bias ; Kdrla, bhdbar, Sutlej ; Awa, alia, chichru, 

 bichua, N. W. Himalaya, is a large gregarious forest weed, multiplying exceed- 

 ingly on rich soil ; covered all over with long stinging bristles, leaves large, 

 dentate, pinnatifid,3-lobed, and sometimes entire, stipules ovate, flowers dioicous, 

 in branching, more or less glomerate, paniculate spikes, female perianth of two 

 unequal segments, nuts flat, ovate, acute, 1-2 lines long, glabrous, shining, sur- 

 rounded by a mass of bristles, with which the ramifications of the panicle are 

 thickly set. Himalaya, 2500 to 8000 ft. Kasia hills. Fl. July, Sept. Closely 

 allied, and perhaps not specifically distinct, are G. palmata, Wedd., DC. Prodr. 

 xvi. i. 101 Syn. G. Leschenaultiana, D ne -, with large cordate stipules, edge of 

 leaves cut into long lanceolate triangular teeth Nilgiris ; and G. zeylanica, 

 D ne - ; DC. Prodr. ibid. Syn. Urtica heterophylla, Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 586, Wight 

 Ic. t. 687 ; female panicles when in fruit short compact, irregularly reniform, 

 but sometimes cylindric, stipules ovate Burma (abundant in the forests of the 

 Pegu Yoma, particularly in the Zamayi), Mount Aboo, Western Ghats, and the 

 Konkan, Ceylon. The Nilgiri nettle includes both G. palmata and G. zey- 

 lanica. These 3 species (or varieties) yield a fine and strong fibre, which is 

 made into twine and ropes. Coarse cloth is made of it in Sikkim. 



Laportea crenidata, Gaudich. ; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. t. 306 Syn. Urtica crenulata, 

 Roxb. iii. 591 ; Wight Ic. t. 686 Mealum-ma of Sikkim, is a large shrub, with 

 glossy penniveined entire or crenulate leaves. 6-18 in. long, flowers dioicous, 

 female perianth minute, campanulate, 4-lobed ; numerous minute poisonous 

 hairs on young shoots, which make the handling and even the vicinity of the 

 plant extremely painful, the effects lasting for days. It is a remarkable fact 

 that the sting of this plant is poisonous only in autumn (Hook. Him. Journ. 

 ii. 188). East Bengal, Burma, evergreen forests of the western coast ; Ceylon 

 and Java. Ropes are made of the fibre. Well known to children in Europe is 

 the burning sting of Urtica dioica, Linn. ; Hook. Stud. Fl. 332, a perennial herb 

 of Europe, and the temperate regions of the northern and southern hemisphere 

 (Kashmir and Kunawar in the N.W. Himalaya). 



3. POUZOLZIA, Gaudichaud. 

 Shrubs or herbs, usually with alternate leaves. Flowers monoicous, 

 rarely dioicous, in sessile axillary clusters or spikes, the male and female 

 flowers usually intermixed. Male flowers : perianth 4-5-lobed or -partite, 

 segments valvate in sestivation. Stamens 3-5. Pistil rudimentary. Female 

 flowers : perianth tubular or ovoid, narrowed at the 2-4-toothed mouth. 

 Ovary included, usually free, 1 -celled with a solitary erect or ascendin 

 ovule ; style laterally stigmatose, filiform, deciduous. Nut enclosed 

 the persistent, sometimes winged perianth. 



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