5i 8 NATURAL HISTORY OF PLANTS. 



■ 2. Nanocnide Bl.'— Flowers monoecious. Male perianth 4, 5- 

 partite ; segments externally glabrous or setulose ; bud depressed in 

 middle.' Stamens as many ; anthers uniform. Eudiment of gynse- 

 ceum hyaline obovoid. Segments of female perianth 4, unequal 

 erect ; 2 exterior larger keeled ; 2 interior narrower nearly flat. 

 Gyna?ceum of TJrtica. Achene straight compressed, enclosed in 

 enlarged calyx. Seed of TJrtica. — Annual (unarmed ?) herbs ; stem 

 slender; leaves alternate crenate, 3-5-ribbed ; cystoliths oblong or 

 linear ; stipules lateral free ; flowers in axillary, solitary or 2-nate 

 glomeruli ; males pedunculate rather lax ; pedicels articulate ; bracts 

 deciduous; females sessile dense; bracts persistent 2 {China, Japan 3 ). 



3. Hesperocnide Torr. & Gray. 4 — Flowers monoecious ; males as 

 in Nanocnide; calyx 4-merous, outside setulose-hispid. Female 

 perianth tubular oblong-ovoid, hispid all over outside with hamate 

 hairs ; mouth minute, 2-4-dentate ; teeth 2 larger. Gynseceum of 

 Urtica. Achene straight ovate lenticular-compressed apiculate, 

 clothed in enlarged membranous calyx. — Annual herbs, stinging ; 

 leaves opposite, incised or crenate-serrate, 3-5-ribbed ; cystoliths 

 punctiform or oblong ; flowers in axillary androgynous glomeruli ; 

 pedicels articulate, ebracteate {California, Sandwich Islands'). 



4. Obetia Gaudich. 6 — Flowers dioecious ; male perianth 5-partite ; 

 leaves ovate-obtuse puberulous-hispid. Stamens 5. Rudiment of 

 gynseceum globose. Female calyx 4-phyllous ; sepals unequal 

 glabrous. Germen at first straight, afterwards oblique ; stigma sub- 

 sessile ovate, villous or penicillate-capitate, persistent, finally inflexed ; 

 ovule erect. Achene obliquely ovate compressed, straight-set on 

 pedicel, and loosely involucrate by enlarged membranous calyx ; both 

 faces scrobiculate concave rather smooth; edges acutate. Seed nearly 

 of Urtica; cotyledons longer than radicle, transversely oblong-rotund- 

 ate, emarginate at base and apex. — Stinging shrubs; leaves alternate, 



1 Mus. Lugd.-Bat., ii. 154.— Wedd., Monogr., 4 In Whippl. Exp., Sot., 83. — Wedd., 



289, t. 9, B ; Prodr., 68. Frodr., 67. 



* A genus referred by Blume to Procridece, b Spec. 2. Wedd., Monogr., 67 ( Urtica). 



but it agrees better (according to Wedd.) in 6 J'oy. Bonite, Bot„ t. 82. — Wedd.,. in Ann. 



perianth, stigma, habit, and deficiency in stamin- So. Nat., ser. 4, i. 178; Monogr., 106, t. 1, B; 



odes with TJriicem. Prodr., 69. 



3 Spec. 2. Wedd.. loc. cit. 



