296 NETTLE FAMILY. 



seeds, from which castor-oil is expressed, and in ornamental grounds for its 

 magnificent foliage ; the peltate and palmately 7- 11-cIeft leaves l°-2° broad, 

 or even more : fl. late summer. 



5. JATROPHA. (Derivation of name obscure.) Chiefly tropical plants ; 

 one is a weedy plant wild S., viz. 



J. tirens, var. stimuldsa (or J. STiMULbsA), Tkead-Soptlt or Spuege- 

 Nettle, names referring to its stinging bristly hairs, which are like those of 

 Nettles : dry sandy soil, branching, 6' -12' high ; leaves rounded heart-shaped, 

 3 - 5-Iobed or variously cleft or parted ; flowers slender, white ; stamens 10, 

 their fllaments almost separate. ^ 



6. BUXUS, BOX. (Ancient Latin, from the Greek name of the Box-tree ) 

 B. semp^rvirens, Tkee Box, and its more common var. nXna, the 



DwAKF Box, with much smaller leaves, from the Mediterranean, are planted 

 North chiefly for borders, especially the Dwarf Box. 



7. PACHYSANDE.A. (The name in Greek means (Ajcfcstomens.) ^ 

 P. procTimbens. Rocky woods, W. slope of the AUeghanies, and in some 



garitens ; developing its cbpioufe spikes from the base of the shoi-t procumbent 

 densely tufted stems, in early spring. 



103. URTICACEiS, NETTLE FAMILT- 



This family, taken in the largest sense, includes very various 

 apetalous plants, with raoncBcious or dioecious flowers (except in 

 tlie Elm Family), having a distinct calyx free from the 1 -seeded 

 fruit. Inner bark generally tough. Leaves with stipules, which 

 are sometimes early deciduous. There are four suborders. 



L ELM FAMILY. Trees, the juice not milky. Leaves 

 alternate, 2-ranked, simple : stipules small and falling early. 

 Flowers monoeciously polygamous, many of them perfect, with 

 the filaments not inflexed in the bud, and 2 diverging styles or 

 long stigmas. Ovary 1 -2-celled, with 1 or 2 hanging ovules, 

 in fruit always l-celled and 1-seeded. 



* Fruit dry, winged ornui-Uke. Anthers turned outwards. 



1. ULMUS. Calyx bell-shaped, 4-9-cleft. Stamens 4-9: filaments long and 



slender. Ovary mostly 2-ceIled, becoming a l-celled thin samara or key- 

 fruit winged all round (Lessons, p. 131, fig. 301). Flowers in clusters in 

 axils of last year's leaves, in early spring, before the leaves of the season, 

 purplish or yellowish-gi-een. Leaves straight -veined, serrate. 



2. PLANEEA. Like Elm, but flowers more polygamous, appearing with the 



leaves in small axillary clusters; the lobes of ths calyx p.ud stamens only 4 

 or 5; the l-celled 1-ovuled ovary forming a wingless nut-like fniit. 

 » * Fritit a berry-like globular small drupe. Anthers turned inward. 



3. CELTIS. Calyx 5 - 6-parted, persistent. Stamens 5 or 6. Stigmas very long, 



taperin". Ovary and drupe 1-oelled, 1-seeded. Flowers gveenish, in the 

 axils of the leaves ; the lower ones mostly staminate and clustered, the upper 

 fertile and mostly solitary on a slender peduncle. 



IL FIG FAMILY. Trees with milky or colored acrid or 

 poisonous juice. Leaves alternate. Flowers strictly monoecious or 

 dioecious. Styles or stigmas commonly 2. 



§ 1. Ftowefs of. bath kinds mixed, Imng the inside of a closed Jlesby receptacle, or 

 hollow Jtower-stalk, which ripens into wliai seerns to be a sort of berry, 

 i. FICUS. Receptacle in which the flowers are concealed boi-ne in the axil of 

 the leaves. Akeno seed-like. Stipules large, successively' enveloping the 

 young leaves in tlie bud, falling off as the leaves expand. 



