Urtica.] urticaoe/E. 447 



times dark) green, paler and a Utile shining beneath, the nerves whitish above, 

 prominent beneath, quite smooth on both surfaces from about l| to 3 inches long, 

 ovato-lanceolate, acute or rounded at the point, fringed vi'ilh remote spinulose 

 setae, strongly, evenly and rather distantly serrate, the serratures very obtuse ; 

 entire and either slightly rounded or attenuated at base, where are a pair or some- 

 times two pairs of minute, fleshy, gland-like bodies, formed by the abrupt expan- 

 sion and thickened termination of the prominent margins of the short channelled 

 petiole. Stipules small, ovate or triangular, acuminate, erect and incurved, 

 appearing at the enlarged bases of the lower branches considerably remote from 

 the leaf they belong to. Flowers in size, structure and appearance like those of 

 M. perennis, the ttaminiferous, as in that, in small, sessile, roundish clusters, on 

 long, filiform, erect, axillary and solitary common peduncles, of which the clus- 

 ters occupy the superior half only ; pistilliferous flowers on much shorter stalk 

 than those of the same kind in M. perennis, appearing at first sight almost ses- 

 sile, though the pedicels elongate a little in fruit, and are either solitary or clus- 

 tered 2 or 3 together, with very minute bracts at their base, one of them often 

 more lengthened out than the others, and bearing a solitary perfect or imperfect 

 staminate flower at its apex. Style much smaller than in M. perennis. 



The var. (3. is a common form in the S. of Europe, and has been noticed as 

 growing plentifully in the Channel Islands by Messrs. Babingten and Christy. 

 The younger Linnsus considered it a distinct species, and after him many bota- 

 nists have held the same opinion, but, though very dififerent in appearance in 

 some respects, it is certainly, as DeCandoUe remarks, but a variety, and not a 

 very permanent one either, of M. annua. The Eyde specimens difler from the 

 more usual slate of the species in the more ovate leaves, which are of a much 

 paler green, with less distinct nerves, and more remotely serrated, The flowers 

 are in small, roundish, axillary clusters of 8 or 10 together, sometimes consisting 

 entirely of either male or female blossoms, more usually mixed, the latter elevated 

 above the former on rather long peduncles. This arrangement of the sexes is 

 analogous to what we find in Buxus, Euphorbia, and other genera naturally 

 monoecious. I found at Winchester, in 1849, M. anrnui exhibiting its usual dioe- 

 cious character, but with the flowers of both sexes in axillary nearly or quite ses- 

 sile clusters, as in the present variety. 



This species is a very troublesome weed in many parts of England, as in 

 market-gardens at Battei'sea fields near London, and about Bristol. Like the 

 preceding, it turns partially blue in drying.* 



Order LXVIII. UETICACE^, Juss. 



" Flowers generally monoecious or dioecious (very rarely some 

 of them perfect), scattered or amentaceous, or aggregated on a 

 fleshy persistent receptacle. Perianth divided, persistent or 

 wanting. Stamens definite, distinct, opposite the lobes of the 

 perianth and inserted at its base when there is one. Ovary free, 

 1 -celled. Ovule solitary. Fruit usually an achenium, often seve- 

 ral combined and immersed in the persistent fleshy perianths or 

 upon or within large fleshy receptacles. Embryo with the radicle 

 superior. — Trees, shrubs, or herbs, with stipules, often stinging 

 and sometimes milky." — Br. Fl. 



* This properly is not common to all the species of the genus, as for instance 

 M. tomentosa.oi the S. of Europe, which retains its colour unaltered by 

 desiccation. 



