MONOECIA TETRANDRIA 523 



f Leaves opposite. 



1 U. FfTMitA, £. Stem glabrous, succulent and translucent ; leaves 

 ovate, acuminate, crenate-serrate, 3-nerved, smoothish ; flowers trian- 

 drous', in clustered corymbs shorter than the petioles. Beck, Hot. 

 p. 314, 

 Dwarf Urtica. Vulgo — Rich-weed. Smooth Nettle. 



Plant yellowish green. Root annual. Stem 6 to 18 inches high, simple, or 

 sometimes branched from the base, obtusely 4-angled, fleshy, smooth and shining, 

 nearly transparent, leaves opposite, 1 to 3 inches long, and 3 fourths of an inch 

 to 2 inches wide, more or less ovate, with a short sub! i near entire obtuse acumin- 

 atum, rather obtusely and coarsely serrate, often inclining to rhomboid, with the 

 base cuneatc and entire, distinctly 3-nerved, shining and translucent, smoothish, 

 or minutely pilose, the upper surface sprinkled Nvith coarser hairs; petioles 1 to 

 3 inches long, slender, smoothish. Flowers small, greenish, in axillary branching 

 clusters, or paniculate corymbs, shorter than the petioles. Fruit compressed t 

 ovate, acute, minutely verrucose, or sprinkled with brownish oblong wartlike 

 dots. 

 JJab. Moist shaded places ; about houses, &c. frequent. Ft. July— Aug. Fr. Sept. 



2. U. dioica, L. Stem and leaves hispid ; leaves cordate-lanceolat*, 

 conspicuously acuminate, coarsely and acutely serrate ; flowers often 

 dioicous, in clustered paniculate spikes longer than the petioles. Beck, 

 Bot.p.31*. 



Dioicous Urtica. Vulgo — Nettle. Stinging Nettle. 



Gallice — Grande Ortie. Germ. — Die Brennessel. Hisp. — Ortiga. 



Root perennial. S7em 2 to 3 feet high, obtusely 4-angled, branching, very hispid. 

 Leaves opposite, 2 or 3 to 5 inches long, and 1 to 2 inches wide, hispid, more or 

 less cordate at base, sharply and strongly serrate, acuminately tapering to the 

 apex, with a lance-linear acute entire point 1 third to 3 fourths of an inch long: 

 petioles half an inch to 2 inches long, hirsute, with linear-lanceolate pubescent 

 stipules blI base. Flowers small, often dioicous, in interrupted clusters on slender 

 axillary branching hispid spikes longer than the petioles. 



Hub. About houses, in waste places: frequent. Fl. June-August. Fr. Aug-Sept. 



Obs. A naturalized foreigner,— well known to all who have ever come in con- 

 tact with it. When permitted to flourish about houses, it becomes a vile nuisance. 



f f Leaves alternate. 



3. U. caicadexsis, L. Hispid and stinging; leaves ovate, acuminate, 

 serrate ; panicles axillary, elongated, loosely and divaricately branched, 

 the lower ones staminate, the upper ones pistillate. Beck, Bot. p. 3 1 5. 



Also, U. divaricata. Florul. Cestr.p. 100. Not! of Willd. &c. 



Canadian Urtica,. 



Root perennial. Stem 2 to 5 or 6 feet high, stout, terete, striate, hispid, branch- 

 ing. Leaves alternate, 3 to 6 or 7 inches long, and 2 to 3 or 4 inches wide, ovate, 

 often inclining to elliptic, acuminate, dentate-serrate, thinnish, more or less 

 hispid on both sides; petioles 1 to 3 or 4 inches long, slender, hispid. Flowers in 

 loose axillary divaricately-branching hispid panicles often nearly as long as tho 

 leaves, the lower or early ones mostly sttrile, the upper or later ones fertile. 



