URTICA. 



Arab. l6o. ) — I^eavcs alternate, ovate, fomewhat heart- 

 iliaped, ftrrated. Stem and footltalks hairy. Stipulas 

 Jlncar-laiiceolatc. Clullers compound, longer than the 

 leaves — Native of Arabia. The h'.rbage has no Hinging 

 quality. The Jltm is but a foot high, moft Iiairy in the 

 upper part. Leaves about an inch long, acute ; paler be- 

 neath, with hairy ribs. Footjlalks the lei.gth of the leaves. 

 Clujlcrs axillary, folitary, Icls compound than in tlie laft, 

 hairy. Floivtrs tufted. 



69. U. capenfis. Horehound-leavcd Cape Nettle. Linn. 

 Suppl. 417. Willd. n. 63. Thunb. Prodr. 31. — Leaves 

 alternate, heart-fhaped, crenate ; dowiiy and foft beneath. 

 Clufters axillary, ercCt, aggregate. Flowers fafciculated. — 

 Gathered by Thunbcrg, at the Cape of Good Hope. The 



Jiem is round, ereft, with fpreading branches, fomewhat 

 hairy, not dinging. Leaves an inch and a half long, and 

 nearly as broad, acute, broadly and rather (harply crenate ; 

 fmoolh above ; dcnfely downy and hoary beneath. Foot- 

 jlalks downy, about as long as the leaves. Clujlers two 

 inches or more in length, ftalked, flcnder, cylindrical, un- 

 branched, compofed of fmall, round, (lightly diitant, tufts 

 oi Jlowers. 



70. \J. argentea. Silvery Cape Nettle. Forft. Prodr. 65. 



Willd. n. 64 " Leaves alternate, elliptic-lanceolate, nearly 



entire ; glaucous beneath. Spikes axillary, folitary, inter- 

 rupted." — Native of the Society ifles. Forjler. 



71. V.n'fvea. Chinefe White -leaved Nettle. Linn. Sp. 

 PI. 1398. Willd. n. 65. Ait. n. 17. Jacq. Hort. Vind. 

 v. 2. 7^. t. 166. ( Ramium majus ; Rumph. Amboyn. 

 v. 5. 214. t. 79. f. I.) — Leaves alternate, roundilh-ovate, 

 pomted, toothed, three-ribbed ; fnow-white and downy be- 

 neath. Cluilers axillary, repeatedly compound. Flowers 

 fafciculated — Native of China, and the remote illands of 

 the Eail Indies. Miller appears to have cultivated this 

 fpecies at Chelfea in 1739, and it ftill exifts there, in the 

 open border, though generally confidered as a grecnhoufe 

 or ftove plant. The Jiem is (lirubby, ereft, but little 

 branched, three or four feet high. Leaves from three to 

 fix inches long, and three or four in breadth, on long hairy 

 ftalks ; their upper furface dark-green, opaque, rough to 

 the touch ; the under clothed with foft, very clofe, pubcf- 

 cence, of the purell moll brilliant while, marked with three 

 principal ribs, and many fine veins, all reddiHi or green, 

 hairy, not downy. Clujlers repeatedly compound, bearing 

 numerous fmall round heads oi Jlowers, all female in the 

 fpecimens we have examined. We fee no reafon to doubt 

 the fynonym of Rumphius, though Jacquin cxprefTes a con- 

 trary opinion ; led perhaps more by the figure, which is di- 

 minifhcd and bad, than by the defcription. This Urtica is 

 a very handfome and fingular plant, well worthy of cultiva- 

 tion in warm fheltered parts of a flower-garden, or flirub- 

 bery, at leail in our iouthern counties. 



72. U. elata. Jamaica Tree Nettle. Swartz Ind. 

 Occ. 322. Willd. n. 66. — Leaves alternate, ovate, acute, 

 ferrated, fomewhat brilUy. Stem arboreous. Clufters 

 much branched, divaricated, lateral, below the leaves. 



Flowers dioecious Native of hills in the fouthern part of 



.Jamaica. A tree about ten feet high, whofe Irunk is an inch 

 or two in diameter, with a imoothilh grey bark, and fprtad- 

 ing branches, armed when young wilii Hinging brifllc*. 

 Leaves on tlic young branches only, Italked, pointed, an inch 

 or two long, witli broad, fometinies (hallow, ferratures ; 

 green on both fides, and befprinkled, more or lefs, willi fine 

 hinging bridles, fome of which are marginal. Clujlers on 

 the naked parts of the branches, from above the Icars left 

 by the lail year's leaves, an inch long, flendcr, IrilUy. 



Fh-wers minute, diftant, feffile. Dr. Swartz never met with 



the male blolFoms. 



73. \J . caraccalana. Broad-downy-leaved Nettle. .Tacq. 

 Hort. Schoenbr. v. 3. 71. t. 386. Willd. n. 67 — Leaves 

 alternate, heart-fliaped, acutely crenate ; rough above ; foft 

 and downy beneath. Panicles lateral, leaflefs, forked, diva- 

 ricated. Flowers capitate, dioecious. Stem arboreous. — 

 Native of the Caraccas. It flowered in autumn, in the 

 ftove at Schoenbrun. We find an old fpecimeii, without 

 name or place of growth, in the Linnaean herbarium. The 

 Jiem is eight feet high, and an inch thick, round, woody, but 

 light. Leaves on downy ilalks, broadly heart-lhaped, 

 from five to eighteen inches long, copioufly but not ftrongly 

 crenate, furnilhed with one principal rib, which fends off 

 many obhqucly traniverfe ones ; green on both fides, though 

 the under is clothed with denfe velvet-bke pubefcence, 

 which has rather lefs of a flinging property than the hairs 

 on the foot/lall-s and young branches. Panicles from above 

 the fears left by lall year's leaves, two or three inches wide, 

 repeatedly forked, their ilalks white, fmooth and tender. 

 Flowers purplidi, in fmall round heads. We have feen only 

 the males, which are four-cleft. 



74. U. hacc'ifera. Berry-bearing Nettle. Linn. Sp. 

 PI. 1398. Willd. n. 68. Ait. n. 18. Jacq. Hort. 

 Schoenbr. v. 3. 71. t. 387. Andr. Repof. t. 454. Swartz 

 Obf. 358. (U. arborefcens b ace if era ; Plum. Ic. 259. 

 t. 260. ) — Leaves alternate, heart-fliaped, toothed, prickly 

 as well as the Ihrubby ilem. Calyx of the fruit pulpy. — 

 Native of lofty fhady mountains in South America and 

 Jamaica ; flowering in the ftove in fummcr. A ftoutyZ>rui^, 

 or fmall tree, of a coarfe rather fucculeiit habit, armed all 

 over with copious large venomous prickles, of a conical 

 figure. Leaves a fpan long, acute, dark-green ; paler be- 

 neath. Panicles numerous, lateral or axillary, large, droop- 

 ing, lax, very much branched, with red prickly ftalks. 

 Flowers fmall, dioecious ; we have feen the female plant 

 only, and confcquently no perfeft fruit. The Jligma is a 

 beautiful tuft of radiating hairs. The calyx is permanent, 

 fwelling, and becoming pulpy, as the yi-f^/ ripens, which is 

 clearly cxprefled in Phimier's figure. 



7J. U. flimulans. Buffalo's Nettle. Linn. Suppl. 418. 

 Willd. n. 69. — Leaves alternate, oblong, entire ; contracted 

 and nightly heart-fhaped at the bafe ; roughifh oh the upper 

 fide. Stem (hrubby, prickly. Panicles axillary, compound, 

 divaricated, hairy. — Native of Java, where, according to 

 Thunberg, it is called Bujfclblail, or Buffalo's leaf, being 

 iifcd to drive thofe animals, by means of the large flings, 

 with which the branches are armed. Of thefe flings we 

 find no traces on the dried fpecimen. The branches ace 

 woody, roiuid ; the young ones leafy, rough to the touch, 

 with extremely minute points, fuch as are found likewife on 

 the foliage. The haves are a fpan long, (on ftalks rough 

 in a fimilar manner, an inch in length,) furnifhed with a 

 fingle flout mid-rib, which fends off numerous alternate, 

 tranfverfe veins or ribs ; the under fide is fmooth, rather 

 pale. Stipulas ovate, membranous, partly hairy, deciduous. 

 Panicles ftalked, twice the length of the footttalks, with 

 fomewhat raceniofe branches, clothed witii numerous, ap- 

 parently ftinginp, briflles. Flowers fomewhat tufted, 

 Imall, probably diocciouc. 



76. U. laurtna. Laurel-leaved Nettle. — Leaves alter- 

 nate, ovate-oblong, pointed, nearly fnuioth, with fhallow 

 ferratures. Panicles lateral, divaricated, downy. Flowers 



capitate Sent by the late Mr. Clirillopher Smith, from 



Amboyna. The jlim is fhrubby or arboreous, with wooily 

 fohd branches, leafy at the extremity. Leaves deciduous, 



about 



