URTICA. 



ferrated, about five-ribbed. Stipulas lanceolate, reflexed. 

 Clufters oblong, nearly fimple. — Common throughout Eu- 

 rope, in cultivated ground, where it proves a molt trouble- 

 fome annual weed, of quick growth, and very prolific, 

 often producing two crops in a year. In America it is more 

 rare. The herb is rather bufhy, bright green, armed all 

 over with venomous ilings. Leaves an uich or more in 

 length, coarfely and deeply ferrated, full twice as long as 

 their footjlalis. Stipulas fmall, narrow, reflexed. Clufters 

 ilalked, drooping, hardly equal, in general, to the foot- 

 ftalks, compofed of male and female Jlowers intermixed. 

 Seeds bordered. 



17. U./fatulata. Spatulate Stinging Nettle. (U. minor 

 urentiffima ; Commerf. MSS.) — Leaves oppofite, orbicu- 

 lar-heart(haped, deeply ferrated, fliorter than their foot- 

 rtalks, mo(tly three-ribbed. Clufters capitate, very (hort. 

 — Gathered by Commerfon at Monte Video. The Jlem is 

 more elongated, and lefs branched, than in the foregoing, 

 very denfely leafy. Whole herb plentifully armed with long 

 venomous ilings. Fooljlalis near an inch long. Leaves 

 about half that length, with deep-cut, acute, radiating fer- 

 ratures. The Jlipulas we have not feen. Flowers much 

 like U. urens, but in (horter tufts, and the feeds appear to 

 be lefs confpicuoufly bordered. We fufpeft this to be a 

 perennial fpecies. 



18. U. dioica. Great Stinging Nettle. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 1396. Willd. n. 17. Fl. Brit. n. 3. Engl. Bot. t. 1750. 

 Purfh n. 3. Curt. Lond. fafc. 6. t. 69. Fl. Dan. t. 746. 

 (U. urens ; Ger. Em. 706. U. major ; Fuchf. Hift. 107. 

 ]3runf. Herb. v. i. 151. U. fecunda ; Matth. Valgr. v. 2. 

 470.) — Leaves oppofite, heart-fhaped, (harply ferrated. 

 Stipulas ovate,"diftinft, fpreading. Clullers much branched, 

 in pairs, longer than the footlfalks, moftly dioecious. — 

 Common in wafte ground, throughout Europe, as well as 

 in North America and Afia, flowering in the middle of 

 fummer. The perennial creeping root, larger fize and duller 

 green of the whole plant, and the large hnmcMxiigJlo'iver- 



Jlalks, render this very obvioufly diftinft from n. i6. The 

 Jlems are three feet, or more, in height. Every part is 

 armed with ftings. Flowers chiefly male on one plant, fe- 

 male on another. Calyx of the latter often furnilhed with 

 a pair of irafleas at its bafe. The iibres of the^em may be 

 manufaftured into thread, but are inferior to hemp. The 

 young leaves, boiled in fpring, are not a bad fubftitute for 

 fpinach, to which herb the Nettle is allied, as well as to the 

 hemp, in botanical affinity. Leers remarks the two addi- 

 tional leaves, or braBeas, to the female calyxy in U. urens, 

 as well as in the prefent fpecies. 



19. \J. gracilis. Slender-ftalked Nettle. Ait. ed. i. 

 v. 3. 341. ed. 2. n. 12. Willd. n. 29. (U. procera ; Willd. 

 n. 18. Purfh n. 4.) — Leaves oppofite, ovato-lanceolate, 

 ferrated ; hcart-fliaped at the bafc. Stem and footltalks hif- 

 pid. Flowers dioecious. Clufters in pairs, fomewhat 



branched, about as long as the footltalks Native of Hud- 



fon's Bay, from whence it was brought to Kew, in 1782. 

 Alton. Found by the fides of waters, in rocky fituations, 

 from Canada to I'ennfylvania, flowering in July and Auguft. 

 Perennial. The fpccimcn of U. gracilis, m tlie liorbarium 

 of x\. B. Lambert, cfq., agrees in every refpeft with pro- 

 cera. Purjh. This being the cafe, we retain, of courfc, 

 the original name. We have feen no fpccimcn of either 

 plant. U. procera is defcribcd by Willdcnow as very nearly 

 related to the common dioica, fo as to be poffibly no more 

 than a variety ; but differing in its lefs heart-lhapcd haves, 

 whofe ferratures are fmaller. The fuotjlalls arc fringed with 

 briftlcs towards the bafe of each li;if, where the dioica is 

 downy only. The fpiies, or cliijlcrs, moreover, arc lefs 



compound, fometimes ihortfer than the footftalks, not 

 longer. 



20. U. morifolia. Mulberry -leaved Nettle. — Leaves 

 oppofite, heart-lhaped, broadly and bluntly ferrated. 

 Stipulas ovate, combined, reflexed. Clufters in pairs, 

 cylindrical, unbranched, drooping. — Sent by Mutis from 

 Mexico. Linnreus confidered it as U. dioica, from 

 whicli, when examined, it manifeftly difi^ers in the above 

 charaAers, and, even at firil fight, in the broad blunt ferra- 

 tures of the nearly naked, though rough, leaves, whofe 

 furface is even, not wrinkled, except when very young. 

 The clujlers are flender, and in our fpecimen entirely female. 

 Seed nearly orbicular, crowned with a fhort Jlyle. 



21. U. chamadryoidei. Germander Nettle. Purfli n. 5. 

 — " Leaves oppofite, almoft feffile, ovate, ferrated ; briftly 

 beneath. Tufts of flowers axillary, feffile, nearly globofe, 

 reflexed. Stem armed with ftings." — On the iflands of 

 Georgia, St. Simon's, &c. Mr. Lyon. Annual, flower- 

 ing in May. The leaves are fmall. Stings white, very 

 confpicuous. Pvrjh. 



22. U. membranacea. Wing-ftalked Nettle. Poiret in 

 Lamarck n. 9. Willd. n. 19. Desfont. Atlant. v. 2. 340. 

 (U. caudata ; Vahl. Symb. v. 2. 96. U. dioica ; Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 1396.) — Leaves oppofite, broadly ovate, fomewhat 

 heart-ftiaped, coarfely ferrated. Flowers monoecious ; the 

 male in twin, upright, unbranched, ftalked fpikes, with a 

 winged receptacle ; female in nearly feffile fpikes, fliorter 



than the footftalks Native of the fouth of Europe, the 



north of Africa, and the ifle of Bourbon, in which laft 

 place our fpecimen was gathered by Commerfon. The root 

 is perennial. Herb ftinging, refembling U. dioica, but 

 paler, more delicate, of a brighter green ; the leaves alfo 

 are broader, rounder, lefs ftiarply ferrated, on longer ftalks. 

 The Jlipulas are alnioll perfe£lly combined, fpreading. The 

 upright, ilalked, unbranched, hneir male fpiies, with their 

 membranous-winged receptacle, form the moft remarkable 

 charafter of the prefent fpecies. They grow in pairs, from 

 the bofoms of the upper leaves, which they greatly exceed 

 in length. The female fpiies, fituated lower down, are 

 much (horter, and lefs confpicuous. Their calyx is downy. 



23. U. ferox. Armed Nettle. Fortt. Prodr. 66. 

 Willd. n. 20. — Leaves oppofite, haftate-heartfliaped, coarfely 

 toothed, fringed with briftles ; downy beneath. Stipulas 

 heart-fliaped. Clufters panicled, in pairs, longer than the 

 footftalks — Gathered by Forfter, in New Zeeland. A 

 ftirub, whofe branches and footflalls are clothed with hoary 

 down. The midrib of each leafn befet, on the upper fide, 

 with rigid briftles ; the under iide is downy. The habit of 

 the plant refembles U. dioica. IVilldenow. 



24. \J. JicifoUa. Fig-leaved Nettle. Lamarck n. 10. 

 Willd. n. 21. — Leaves oppofite, heart-fliaped, fomewhat 

 hallate, acutely fivc-lobed, crenate ; downy beneath. Pa- 

 nicles cymofe, divaricated Gathered by Commerfon, in 



the ifle of Bourbon. This appears to be a tree, with thick, 

 rather flelhy, branches, leafy at their extremities. The 

 leaves grow on longifli fooljlalis, and are three inches long, 

 nearly as much in breadth, very irregularly five or feven- 

 lobed, with taper points ; their upper furface almoft fmooth ; 

 under clothed with white filky pubcfcence. The fame tree 

 fometimes bears deeply three-lobed, as deeply pinnatifid, 

 leaves. Flowers very numerous, fmall, whitilh, in large, 

 compound, fpreading panicles, fomewhat like the cymes of 

 Elder, but not fo large. 



25. U. cannabina. Hemp-leaved Nettle. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 1396. Willd. n. 22. Ait. n. 9. (U. foliis profunde la- 

 ciniatis, feniine lini ; Amman. Ruth. 173. t. 25.) — Leaves 

 oppofite, iu tlu-ec deep pinuntilid fcgracnls. Clufters cy- 

 lindrical, 



