■N"ETTLE FAMILY. 



291 



Oeder LXIY. URTICA'CEJE. (NEf le Famh^y,) 



ffei-bs, sTirubs or trees, with stipules and monoecious, dioecious or sometimes perfect flowers, 

 having a regular calyx, free from the 1-celled frarely 2-celled) ovary, which forms a 1- 

 seeded/rwii. Embryo in the albumen, when tliis is present ; ?-adick pointing upwards. 

 Stamens as many as the lohes of the calyx and opposite to them, or sometimes fewer. 



A comprehensive and very important Order, — containing plants of various, and, in some 

 instances, of remarkably dissimilar aspect and properties ; such as the Nettle and the 

 Mulberry — the bitter Hop and the luscious Fig — the nutritious Bread-fruit (Artocarpus 

 incisa, L. f.) and the deadly Upas (Antiaris toxicaria, Leschen). The celebrated Cow-tree 

 or Palo de Vaca (Brosimum Galactodendron, Don.), of South America, " which yields a 

 copious supply of rich and wholesome milk," belongs to this Order ; as also does the yel- 

 low dye-wood, called Fustic (Madura tinctoria, Don) — and the wide-spreading Banyan- 

 tree (Ficus rehgiosa, L.), of India. A species of Ficus (F. elastica, Roxb.) also yieida 

 Caoutchouc, or Gum elastic. 



We follow Doctor Gray in the arrangement of this Order ; he places as sub-famihes of 

 this, several which have been considered as families. 



1. Elm Sub-family. 



Tre&s with ioa/erj/Jwtce, alternate Zeeai-e? and perfect or monoeciously polygamous j/Zowe/s. 



Styles or stigmas 2. Fruit a samara or drvpe. Seed suspended. 



Flowers mostly perfect. Anthers extrorsc. Ovary 2-celled, 2-ovulcd. 



Fruit 1-celled, dry, winged. 1. Uljius. 



Flowers polygamous. Anthers introrso. Ovary 1-cellcd. 



Fruit a small drupe. 2. Celtis. 



2. Bread-fruit and Fig Sub-family. 



Trees or shrubs with milky, or colored jvice and alternate leaves ; monoe- 

 cious or dioecious flowers, in catkin-liko heads or spikes, the parts of 

 the fertile ones becoming fleshy in fruit, or both kinds in a fleshy 

 receptacle. Styles 1-2. Oi'ary 1- (rarely 2-) celled, ripening as a dry 

 akene. Inner bark often tough and fibrous. 



Flowers minute, enclosed in a pear-shaped receptacle which is pulpy 



when ripe. 3. Ficus. 



Flowers monoecious ; both kinds in separate catkin-like spikes, the calyx 



&c., becoming berry-like in fruit. Stamens 4, styles 2. 4. MORUS. 



Flowers dioecious ; the fertile ones collected in a close round head, 

 which is fleshy in fruit. 

 Sterile flowers in spikes. Unarmed. 5. Broussonbha. 



Sterile flowers in racemes. Branches spiny. 6. Maclura. 



3. i^ETTLE Sub-Family. 



Herbs with a watery juice, a tough fibrous bark, and opposite or alternate 

 leaves. Floivers monoecious or dioecious \\\ $pilces, racemes, kc, not m 

 catkins. Oiwr;/ 1-cclled, forming an akene in fruit. Stylel. Stamens 

 as many as the sepals. 

 Sepals 4, in both sterile and fertile flowers. 



Plant beset with stiugiug bristles. 7. Urtica. 



4. Hemp Sub-family. 



Herbs with a watery juice, a tough fibrous bark and mostly opposite 

 lobed or divided leaves. Flowers dioecious ; the sterile in panicles or 

 racemes, with 5 sepaU and 5 stamens ; the fertile crowded, with only 

 one sepal which embraces the ovary. Stigmas 2, long. 

 Erect, annual. Fertile flowers in spiked clusters. 



Leaves 5-7 divided. 8. Cannabis. 



Twining from a perennial root. Fertile flowers in short membranace- 

 ous catkins. Leaves 3- 5-lobed. 9. Humxtlcs. 



