Urtica. 



URTICACEiE. 



221 



Suborder II. URTICEtE. Endl. The Nettle Tribe proper. 



Calyx membranaceous, 4 — 5- ( rarely 2 — 3-) sepalled : sepals free or partly 

 united. Stamens equal in number to the sepals. Style single or none. 

 Embryo straight, in fleshy albumen. Herbs (often shrubs or trees in warm 

 countries) with watery juice, often furnished with stinging hairs. Flowers 

 mostly paniculate or spicate. 



2. URTICA. Town.; Endl. gen. 1879. nettle. 



[From the Latin, uro, to burn ; from its stinging property.] 



Flowers monoecious or dioecious. Stam. fl. Calyx 4- (rarely 5-) sepalled ; the sepals 

 roundish, finally spreading. Stamens as many as the sepals. Rudimentary ovary cup- 

 , shaped. Pist. fl. Calyx mostly of 4 sepals ; the 2 exterior sepals smaller, or sometimes 

 wanting. Ovary one-celled, with a single erect orthotropous ovule at the base. Achenium 

 oblong, more or less compressed. — Herbs, or rarely undershrubs, with stinging hairs. 

 Leaves alternate or opposite, incisely serrate. Flowers in panicles, or in axillary racemes 

 or spikes, sometimes capitate. 



§ 1. Urtica proper, Gaud. Calyx of the sterile and fertile flowers A-parted, foliaceous : stamens 4: 

 stigma pencillate : achenium lenticularly compressed. 



* Leaves opposite. 



1. Urtica dioica, Linn. Common Stinging Nettle. 



Stem and leaves hispid ; leaves ovate, acuminate, mostly cordate at the base ; clusters 

 much branched ; flowers usually dioecious. — Linn. sp. 2. p. 984 ; Michx. fl. 2. p. 179 ; Eng. 

 hot. t. 1750; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 113; Ell. sk. 2. p. 571 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 341; Torr. 

 compend. p. 351 ; Beck, hot. p. 314 ; Darling t. fl. Cest. 



Perennial. Stem 2-3 feet high, simple or branching, erect, obtusely 4-angled, hispid 

 with stinging hairs. Leaves 2-4 inches long and 1 - inch wide. Racemes in pairs, 

 axillary, branching, spreading. Flowers minute, green. Calyx of the fertile flower 4-sepalled, 

 the two exterior sepals very small. 



Road -sides, and waste places : rather common. Fl. July - August. Introduced from 

 Europe. A troublesome weed, which often produces painful effects when incautiously 

 touched. The bark of the stems (as in most plants of this tribe) affords a tough fibre, like 

 hemp, and the root boiled with alum dyes yellow. 



