URTICACEJE. (nettle FAMILY.) 445 



6. LAPORTEA, Gaudichaud. Wood-Nettle. 



Flowers mona-cious or dioecious, clustered, in loose cymes ; the upper widely 

 spreading and cliicHy or entirely fertile ; the lower mostly sterile. Stcr. Fl.. 

 Sepals and stamens 5, with a rudiment of an ovary. Fert. Fl. Calyx of 4 

 sepals, the two outer or one of tliem usually minute, and the two inner much 

 larger. Stigma elongated awl-shaped, hairy down o!ie side, persistent. Achc- 

 nium ovate, flat, extremely oblique, reflcxed on the winged or margined pedicel, 

 nearly naked. — Perennial herbs, with stinging hairs, large alternate serrate 

 leaves, and axillary stipules. (Named for M. LaiMile.) 



1. L. Canadensis, Gaudichaud. Leaves ovate, pointed, strongly feather- 

 veined (3' -7' long), long-petioled ; fertile cymes divergent; stipule single, 

 2-ck'ft. (U. Canadensis and U. divaricata, L.) — Moist rich woods. July- 

 Sept. — Stem 2° -3° high. 



7. PI LEA, Lindl. Richweed. Clearweed. 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious. Ster. Fl. Sepals and stamens 3-4. Fert. 

 Fl. Sepals 3, oblong, more or less unequal : a rudiment of a stamen commonly 

 before each in the form of a hooded scale. Stigma sessile, pencil-tufted. Ache- 

 nium ovate, compressed, erect, partly or nearly naked. — Stingless, mostly gla- 

 brous and low herbs, with opposite leaves and united stipules ; the staminate 

 flowers often mixed with the fertile. (Named from the shape of the larger sepal 

 of the fertile flower in the origin.il species, like the pileus, or felt cap, of the 

 Eomans, which partly covers the achenium. In our solitary species the thi'ee 

 sepals are nearly equal, small, and not hooded. ) 



1. P. piimila, Gray. (Richweed. Clearweed.) Low (3'- 18' high) ; 

 stems smooth and siiining, pellucid ; leaves ovate, coarsely toothed, pointed , 

 3-ribbed and veiny ; flower-clusters much shorter than the petioles ; sepals of the 

 fertile flowers lanceolate, .scarcely unequal. (Urtica pumila, L. Dubrueilia 

 pumila, Gaudichaud. Ad'icc pumila, Raf.) — Cool and moist shaded places. 

 July - Sept. 



8. BCEHMERIA, Jacq. False Nettle. 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious, clustered ; the sterile much as in Urtica ; the 

 fertile with a tubular or urn-shaped entire or 2-4-toothed calyx enclosing the 

 ovary. Style elongated awl-shaped, stigmatic and papillose down one side. 

 Achenium elliptical, closely invested by the dry and persistent compres.sed 

 calyx. — No stings. (Named after G. R. Bohmer, Professor at Wittenberg in 

 the last century.) 



1. B. cylindrica, Willd. Perennial, smoothish; stem (l°-3° high) 

 simple ; leaves chiefly opposite, oblong-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, pointed, ser- 

 rate, 3-nerved, long-petioled; stipules distinct; flowers dio-cious, or the two 

 kinds intermixed, the small clusters densely aggregated in simple and elongated 

 axillary spikes, the sterile internqjted, the fertile often continuous. — A state 

 with alternate leaves is B. lateriflora, Mu/il. — Moist or shady ground: very 

 common throughout. 



