THE NETTLE FAMILY. 



229 



its strong spines, is often used as a hedge plant ; it is hardy in 

 this country and forms a low shrub. The fruit (so-called) 

 consists of a firm fleshy globose receptacle the size and colour 

 of an orange, but is not eatable. 



Fustic {Madura tinctoria). A native of the West Indies 

 and Tropical America, often forming a large tree, with small, 

 entire roughish leaves. Its wood is yellow and is the Fustic 

 wood extensively imported to this country for the use of dyers. 



Paper Mulberry {Broussonetia papyrifera). A small tree 

 from 20 to 30 feet high, with rough, entire, or variously lobed 

 leaves. It is supposed to be a native of China and Japan, 

 where it is extensively cultivated for its bark, which is made 

 into paper. It is also widely spread throughout the islands 

 of the Pacific Ocean, where the bark is beaten out by the 

 natives and made into Tapa cloth, which forms their chief 

 article of dress. 



The Nettle Family. 



(Urticace^). 



Trees, shrubs, frutlets, perennial or annual herbs, often 

 weedy, leaves alternate, entire or lobed, generally furnished 

 with stinging hairs. Flowers inconspicuous, in heads, spikes, 

 or panicle-like catkins, sometimes very long ; generally uni- 

 sexual. Fruit small, generally imbedded in a fleshy calyx, 

 in Boehmeria berry-like, or dry as in nettle. 



Upwards of 300 species are enumerated of this family, 

 being represented throughout the temperate and warm re- 

 gions of the earth. By many botanists the bread fruit and 

 mulberry families were associated with the present one, and 

 though their mode of flowering and fruiting is very different, 

 yet botanically it is not so, and it is more their habit that 

 favours their separation ; and being devoid of milky juice. 

 The habit of the genus Dorstenia appears to agree best with 

 the nettle, its receptacle possessing the character of the nettle, 

 fig, and bread fruit, and seems to unite these families. 



Nettle (Urtica dioica). The common nettle, with many 



