1482 CXIX. UETICACE^. [Urtica. 



«,eute, deeply toothed, somewhat cordate at the base and 1 to Sin. long, rarely 

 ■ovate-lanceolate. Inflorescence usually simple or branching into 2 at the very 

 ■base, the males mostly as long as or longer than the petiole, the clusters 

 sometimes lenthening into short branches, the females shorter and more dense, 

 ■but in some specimens the female inflorescences are long, slender, and branched, 

 in others the males are reduced to dense sessile clusters. Male perianth f to 

 1 line diameter, glabrous or slightly scabrous ; female perianth smaller when in 

 flower, but the inner segments enlarging to J line round the nut, which is ovate, 

 slightly compressed, as long as or rather longer than the persistent perianth. — 

 Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. i. 343; U. lucifuga, Hook. f. in Hook. Lend. Journ. vi. 285. 



Hab.: A common scrub plant. 



This species, which is also in New Zealand, is usually distinguished from the northern 

 V. dioica, Linn., by the weaker stems glabrous between the slinging hairs, narrower leaves 

 sind larger male flowers ; some northern specimens, however, of U. dioica come very close 

 to the Australian plant. — Benth. 



2. U. "'urens (stinging), Linn.; WeJd. in DC. Prod. xvi. i. 40 ; Benth. Fl, 

 Jiistr. \i. 191. Common English Nettle. An annual with erect or ascending 

 branched stems rarely above 1ft. high, glabrous with the exception of the rigid 

 •stingipg hairs. Leaves petiolate, ovate or elliptical, deeply and regularly toothed, 

 1 to 2in. long. Inflorescences contracted into loose axillary clusters seldom 

 •exceeding the petioles, the males and the females intermixed in the same clusters, 

 of the same structure as in U. incisa, except that the larger segments of the 

 female perianth are ciliate on the margin and usually bear a single dorsal stinging 

 hair. 



Hab.: A European weed. Darling Downs and a few other southern localities. 



10. FLEURYA. 



(After J. F. Fleury.) 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious, clustered, clusters in solitary axillary cymes 

 ■or spikes, unisexual or androgynous. Male flower: Sepals 4 to 5, ovate- 

 lanceolate, subvalvate or imbricate. Stamens 4 to 5, inflected in bud. Pistillode 

 globose or clavate. Female flower : Perianth cupular, 4-lobed, or sepals 4, 

 imbricate, equal or very unequal, posticous hooded, anticous minute or none. 

 Ovary oblique ; style obliquely ovoid or linear, at length hooked, with sometimes 

 2 basal branches ; ovule erect. Achene oblique, compressed, exserted, 

 membranous. Seed nearly exalbuminous, cotyledons broad. — Annual herbs, with 

 stinging hairs. Leaves alternate, 3-nerved ; stipules connate in opposite pairs or 

 none. 



Species tropical. 



1. P. interrupta (spikes interrupted). Gaud, in Freyc. Voy. Bot. 497, t. 83; 

 Hook, in Fl. Brit. Ind. v. 518. Stems 1 to 3£t. high, erect flexus, furrowed, 

 branching. 2 to Gin. long, ovate acuminate, erenate or serrate subcordate, 

 truncate or cuneate at the base, sparsely clothed with stinging hairs, petioles long 

 as the blade. Stipules 2-fid, cymes spiciform or paniculate, usually much longer 

 than the petiole. Female perianth cupular, 4-lobed or toothed, stipitate. Style 

 unequally 3-lobed. 



Hab.: Several of the tropical scrubs. Besides Queensland this species is found in India and 

 many other hot countries. 



11. LAPORTEA, Gaudich. 



(After M. Laporte.) 



Flowers dioecious or monceeious, clustered but distinct. Male perianth 

 depressed globular in the bud, deeply divided into 4 rarely 6 segments. Stamens 

 4, rarely 5, with a rudimentary pistil ; anther-cells reniform. Female perianth 



