URTICA. 



quarters of an inch long, fomewhat hairy, not flinging, im- 

 perfeftly fringed. Stipuhn none. Flowers crowded be- 

 tween the terminal leaves, fomewhat racemofe, the male and 

 female ones together, the latter fcflile. Germens two, one 

 to each valve, triangular. The permanent valves of the 

 calyx, fringed with minute hooked briflles, attach themfelves 

 to any thing that comes in their way, and carry the feeds 

 along with them. Swartz dcfcribes a fort of rougli cover- 

 ing to the feeds, ijefides the calyx-valves, and judly remarks 

 that this Ipecies is a very Angular Urtica, very near the 

 Farielarix in habit ; and we may add fomewhat Cmilar, 

 perhaps, in cliarafter. 



53. U. glomerata. Tufted-flowered Nettle. Willd. 

 n. 49. — Leaves alternate, ovate, entire ; rough above ; moft 

 hairy beneath. Flowers pen tandrous, nearly feffile, in axil- 

 lary tufts. Stem ercft, with flender elongated branches 



Native of the Eaft Indies. Communicated by profelTor 

 Willdenow himfelf. The Jlem is fomewhat fiirubby, a foot 

 and a half or two feet high, with alternate, long, flender, 

 angular, leafy, reddidi branches, downy when young. 

 Leaves numerous, fcattered, flalked, from half an inch to 

 an inch, rarely more, in length, bluntilh, three-ribbed ; 

 dark green, and rough with minute points, as well as a few 

 hairs, on the upper fide ; paler, and clothed with prominent 

 briftly hairs, beneath. Flowers reddilh, hairy, monoecious, 

 ia numerous little round tufts ; the males five-cleft. The 

 whole plant has altogether the appearance of a Parielaria. 



54. U. moUyfima. Silk-leaved Nettle Leaves alternate, 



ovato-lanceolate, bluntifh, entire ; foft and downy on both 

 fides. Flowers nearly feflile, in axillary tufts. Stem ereft, 



with downy branches Gathered by Commerfon, in the 



iflc of Mauritius. We find no defcription in any author 

 anfwerable to this plant, though it is a very diftinft fpecies. 

 The branches have a fhrubby afpe<ft, being flout, angular or 

 furrowed ; filky, and fometimes zigzag, when young. 

 Leaves two inches, or two and a half, in length, ovate at 

 the bafc, tapering to a blunt point, three-ribbed, of a bright 

 light green ; minutely dotted on the upper fide, and very 

 hairy on both, with foft filky pubefcence. Fooljlalis one- 

 third of an inch long, broad, very downy. Flowers nu- 

 merous, in denfe, globular, axillary tufts, intermixed with 

 fcaly brafleas. They appear to be all males in our fpeci- 

 mens, but are in too young a ftate for precife determination. 

 We have been inclined to fufpeft that this may be the Pa- 

 rielaria verbafcfoUa of Poiret In Lam. Dicl. v. 5. 16, but 

 the leaves in our fpecimens are all alternate, ovate, rather 

 than lanceolate, and blunt, not ftiarp. It is, however, fuf- 

 ficicntly akin to P. arborea of the fame author, though 

 abundantly diftinft, to excite this fufpicion. This P. ar- 

 borea, (Urtiea arborea; Linn. Suppl. 417. L'Herit. 

 Stirp. t. 20.) is Boehmeria rubefcens, Willd. Sp. PI. v. 4. 

 344 ; a handfome greenhoufc flirub, flowering copioufly in 

 the fpring. 



55. U. rotundifoUa. Popper-leaved Nettle. Lamnrck 



n. 38. Willd. n. 50 Leaves alternate, roundifh-ovate, 



pointed, coriaceous, nearly entire, fmooth ; minutely dotted 

 above. Spikes axillary, aggregate, interrupted. Flowers 

 in round balls, with linear downy bracleas. — Gathered by 

 Commerfon, in the ifland of Mauritius. A fine large 

 (hrubby fpeciis, with the afpcft of a Pepper-vine. The 

 branches are round, fmooth, hollow. Leaves three inches 

 long, and two broad, with tiiree ribs, conne£led on the 

 under fide by tranfverfc parallel veins, and innumerable re- 

 ticulations ; the upper dotted with minute callous points. 

 Willdenow miftranflates Poiret, fo ao to dcfcribe tliefe latter 

 on the under furfacc. Footflalhs above an inch long, very 



fmooth. Cluflers, or fpiles, twice thit length, ereft, three 

 together, unbranched, but formed of fevcral denfe, diflant, 

 globular, many-flowered heads, interfperfed with long, nar- 

 row, rufty bradeas. All the flowers appear to be female in 

 Commerfon's fpecimen, but we cannot clearly afcertain the 

 generic charafter, fo as to be free from doubt on that fub- 

 jeft. We fliould gladly have named this fpecies monilifera. 



56. U. helerophylla. Various-leaved Nettle. Vahl Symb. 

 v. I. 76. Willd. n. 51. (U. palmata ; Forfl<. iEgypt.- 

 Arab. 159. Ana-fchoiigcnam ; Rheede Hort. Malab. 

 V. 2. 77. t. 41.) — Leaves alternate, ovate, with tooth-like 

 ferratures ; the upper ones three-lobed. Cluflers axillary, 

 ftalked, oblong, compound. — Native of Arabia Felix, and 

 the Eaft Indies. Root apparently annual. Stem fimple, 

 eighteen inches high, furrowed, fpotted, briftly. Leaves 

 fomewhat heart-fliaped, pointed, with three principal ribs, 

 from two to four inches long, and nearly as broad. Foot- 



flalks briftly, fliorter than the leaves. Flowers monoecious ; 

 the males in globofe cluflers ; the females below them ; their 

 cluflers hifpid and forked when in fruit. 



57. U. lefluans. Surinam Nettle. Linn. Sp. PI. 1397. 

 Willd. n. 52. Ait. n. 15. Jacq. Hort. Schoenbr. v. 3. 

 72. t. 388? fee n. 66. (Pino, five Urtica; Pif. Brafil. 

 235.) — Leaves alternate, ovate, ferrated ; minutely heart- 

 fliaped at the bafe. Cluflers axillary, forked. Fruit in 

 orbicular corymbs. — Native of Surinam. Linnaeus raifed 

 it in the Upfal garden. The root is annual or biennial. 

 Herb flinging, with a furrowed, fimple, hairy flem. Leaves 

 on long hairy ftalks, larger than thofc of U. dioica, and lefs 

 deeply or fliarply ferrated ; contradted in a peculiar manner 

 towards the bafc, where their two fmall lobes make a heart- 

 like finus. Cluflers in our fpecimen fliorter than the foot- 

 flallcs, forked and fubdivided ; in Pifo's figure they are 

 longer, and aflembled about the top of the flem, as in 

 Jacquin's plant, which latter is faid to have no flinging pro- 

 perty. Hence arifes a doubt as to his fynonym, which, 

 without comparing fpecimens, we cannot remove. Pifo 

 fpeaks of his plant as powerfully flinging, and Linnxus im- 

 plies the fame in the fpecific name. The briflles on the 

 leaves indeed appear conflrufted like thofe of our Stinging 

 Nettles, but thofe of the Jlem look like what Linnseus terms 

 them, " harmlefs prickles." 



58. U. capitata. Many-headed Nettle. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 1397. Willd. n. 53. Purfli n. 6. — Leaves alternate, 

 heart-fliaped, ferrated, roughifli, nearly naked. Heads ot 

 flowers globular, deufely fpiked. Stem fmooth. — In fliady 

 woods, near rocks, from Canada to Carolina ; perennial, 

 flowering in June and July. Purfh. This fpecies bears 

 fome refemblance to U. dioica, or rather to our morifolia, 

 n. 20 ; but the leaves have three well-marke,d principal ribs, 

 and are more pointed than in the latter, bcfides being alter- 

 nate. The clujlers, or rather fpHes, are axillary, ereft, fo- 

 litary, various in length, compofed of crowded or confluent 

 heads, of {e{[\\e flowers. Sometimes thefe fpikes afl"ume the 

 nature of branches, and terminate in a few ^aves ; fometimes 

 they are much fliorter than the foolflalks. The feeds are 

 ovate, with a broad tumid border. 



59. \] . japonica. Hairy Japan Nettle. Thunb. Jap. 70. 

 Willd. n. 54. — Leaves alternate, heart-fhapcd, villous, un- 

 equally ferrated. Flowers in globular, axillary, flalkcd 

 heads. Stem downy. — Grows near Nagafaki in Japan, 

 flowering in September and Oftober. The cortical fibre* 

 ferve to make cables for fmall vcflels. The flem is fquarc, 

 furrowed, ereft. Leaves an inch and a half long ; paler be- 

 neath. Foolflalks half that length. 



60. U. villofa. Small Shaggy Japan Nettle. Thunb. 



4 B 2 Jap. 



