NKTTLK FAMILY. 533 



i. Urticastrum divaricatum (L.) Kuntze. 

 Wood Nettle. (Fig. 1267.) 



Urlica divaricata L. Sp. PI. 985. 1753. 



Laportea Canadcnsis Gaud, in Freyc. Voy. Bot. 498. 1826. 



Urticastrum divaricatum Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PL 635. 



1891. 



Stem rather stout, erect or ascending, i^-4 tall. 

 Leaves thin, ovate, long-petioled, acuminate or acute 

 at the apex, sharply serrate, 3-nerved and pinnately 

 veined, glabrous or with some stinging hairs, 3 / ~7 / 

 long, 2 / -5 / wide; petioles very slender, i}4'-s' long; 

 stipule solitary, small, lanceolate, 2-cleft, commonly 

 deciduous; flower-clusters large and loose, often 

 longer than the petioles, the lower staminate, the 

 upper pistillate, divergent, 2 / -6 / broad in fruit; ulti- 

 mate branches of the fruiting clusters flat, cuneate, 

 emarginate; achene twice as long as the calyx, gla- 

 brous, \YT." long. 



In rich woods, Nova Scotia to Ontario and Minnesota, 

 south to Florida and Kansas. Ascends to 3000 ft. in the 

 Adirondacks. Juty-Aug. 



3. ADiCEA Raf. Ann. Nat. 179. 1815. 

 [PiLEA Lindl. Coll. pi. 4. 1821.] 



Annual or perennial, glabrous or pubescent stingless herbs, with opposite petioled 

 mostly 3-nerved leaves, connate stipules, and small numerous monoecious or dioecious flow- 

 ers in axillary cymose or glomerate clusters. Staminate flowers mostly 4-parted (sometimes 

 2- or 3-parted) and with a rudimentary ovary. Pistillate flowers 3-parted, the segments in 

 most species unequal, each subtending a staminodium in the form of a concave scale; ovary 

 straight; stigma sessile, pedicillate. Achene compressed, ovate or suborbicular. Seed-coat 

 thin. Endosperm scanty or none. [Name unexplained.] 



About 150 species, chiefly in the tropics, most abundant in tropical America. Besides the fol- 

 lowing, another occurs in the southern United Stati s. 



i. Adicea pumila (L. ) Raf. Cleanveed. 

 Richweed. (Fig. 1268.) 



I'rlica pttmii.i I,. Sp. PI. <r 



Adicea pumila Raf.; Torr. Fl. N. V J: 223. As syno- 



nym. 1843. 

 Pi lea pumila A. Gray. Man. 



1848. 



Annual, stems pellucid, erect, usually branched, 

 glabrous, succulent, 6'-2 high. Leaves mem- 

 branous, ovate, slender-p'itioled, acuminate or 

 acute at the apex, rounded or narrowed at the base. 

 3-nerved, coarsely dentate, i'-s' long, sparingly 

 pubescent with scattered hairs; petioles often as 

 long as the blades and much longer than the pis- 

 tillate flower-clusters; sepals of the pistillate 

 flowers lanceolate, nearly equal; achene ovate, 

 acute, y t " long. 



In swampy, shaded situations, ofu-n <>n old logs, 

 NY\v Brunswick to \vi-sti-ni Ontario and Mm:: 

 south to Florida, Louisiana and Kansas 

 3000 ft. in Virginia. Also in Japan. July 



4. BOEHMERIA Jacq. Stirp. Am. 246. pi. 157. 1763. 



Perennial stingless herbs (some tropical species shrubs or even trees), with opposite or 

 alternate petioled 3-nerved leaves, distinct or connate stipules, and small monoecious or dioe- 

 cious flowers, glomerate in axillary spikes or heads, the fertile clusters sometimes leafy at 

 the summit. Staminate flowers mostly 4-parted or the calyx of 4 distinct sepals, usually 

 with a rudimentary ovary. Pistillate calyx tubular or urn-shaped, 2-4-toothed or entire, en- 

 closing the sessile or stalked ovary; stigma subulate, papillose or pubescent along one K 

 Achene enclosed by the withering-persistent pistillate calyx. [In honor of Georg Rudolph 

 Boehmer, 1723-1803, Professor in Wittenberg.] 



About 50 species, mostly natives of tropical regions, the following of eastern North Ameri. 



