URTICACEJE. 337 



C. sativa, L. Common Hemp. 



'Leaves palmately <5 to 7-fcliate, the- leaflets lanceolate, serrate, the middle one 

 the largest. 



Waste places, escaped from cultivation. J«ne. A tall erect plant cultivated for 

 the sake of its fibre, which is the best of all materials for cordage and sail-cloth. 

 Flowers green, small. 



Suborder in. URTICEJE. Kettle Family proper. 



LTerbs (in our country) with watery juice, and flowers insmkes, Mads, or panicles, 

 • Style single or none. 



5. UKTICA, Tourn. Nettle. 



Lat. urc, to burn; some of the species are armed with stinging hairs. 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious; the sterile mostly 

 iivith 4 sepals, and 4 stamens : the fertile with 4 or 2 sep- 

 arate sepals, and no rudimentary stamens. Achenium ob- 

 long or ovate, flattish. — Kerbs with stinging hairs, stipulate 

 haves, and greenish flowers in axillary panicles, racemes, 

 spikes, or heads. 



Sec. i. Urtica proper. Sterile calyx 4-parted ; the fertile of 4 very unequal se= 

 , pals, the 2 outer small, the inner foliaceous. — Leaves opposite, 



1. U. GRACILES, Ait. Blender Nettle, 



Sparingly bristly, tall and slender; leaves ovate-lanceolate, pointed, serrate, S 

 ito 5-nerved from the rounded or scarcely heart-shaped base, smoothish, on elonga- 

 ted bristly petioles; flower -clusters in slender and loosely panicled branched spikes. 



Fencerows and moist ground, rather common. July. Per. Plant 2 to 6 feet 

 >high, with scarcely any stinging hairs except on the petioles and sparingly on the 

 principal reins, not downy, -Flowers minute, green. 



2. U. DIOICA, L. Dicecious or Stinging Nettle. 



Very bristly and stinging ; leaves ovate, heart-shaped, pointed, very deeply ser- 

 rate, downy underneath as well as the upper part of the stem; flower-clusters in 

 panicled branched spikes. 



Waste places, common; introduced. June — Aug. Per. Stein 2 to 4 fret high, 

 branching, obtusely 4-angled, with opposite short-petioled leaves, 3 to 4 inehes long, 

 and about x / 2 as wide. Flowers small, green. Whole plant copiously beset with 

 stinging bristles. — Like the last mono-dioecious. 



3. U. urens, L. Small Stinging Nettle, 



Leaves elliptic or roundish-ovate, somewhat 5-nerved, acutely serrate, with 

 spreading teeth ; flower-clusters nearly simple, 2 in each axil, shorter than the pet- 

 ioles. 



Cultivated grounds, rare ; introduced from Europe. July. Ann. Stem 10 to 15 

 inches high, stinging. Leaves 1 to 2 inches long on slender petioles. 



Sec. 2. Lapcbtea, Gaud. Sterile calyx 5-parted, the fertile of 2 equal sepals :— 

 Leaves alternate. 



4. U. Canadensis, L. Canadian Nettle. 



Leaves ovate, obtusely serrate, pointed; flowers in long and loose divaricately- 

 branched panicles, the lower sterile, the upper fertile. 



m 



