XETTLE FAMILY. 



299 



- SiixGixG Urtica. Small Stinging-nettle. 



Annual. 5''eni 8 -12 inches iiigh, erect. Xsam 1 - 2 inches long <bUp* cr som-owhat 

 cordate at the base. 

 Waste places. New York State and Eastward. 



Obs. These naturalized weeds, so well known for their stingins^ quali- 

 ties, are apt, especially the first mentioned, to become troublesome where 

 they are allowed to flourish. The quaint old herbalist, Culpepper, 

 remarks " that they may be found by feeling on the darkest night." In 

 some parts of England nettles are used as a pot-herb, and the tough 

 bark is said to afford a thread superior in durability to that from flax. 

 There is a large-leaved native nettle which is now placed in another ge- 

 nus (Lapor'tea canaden'sis, Gaudich), the Wood-nettle, which is not 

 inclined to intrude on cultivated lands. * 



8. CAX'In'ABIS, Tournef. Hemp. 



[An ancient Greek name, — of obscure etymology.] 



SxAiJixATE Fl., in axillary compound racemes, or panicles with 5 sepals 

 and 5 drooping stamens. Pistillate Fl., spicate-glomerate, with single 

 bracts. Calyx of a single membranaceous sepal, folded around the sub- 

 globose ovary. Nut 1-celled, 2-valved, indehiscent. 



1. C. SATi'vA, L. Leaves digitate, petiolate ; leaflets 5-7, lanceolate, 

 serrate. 



Cultivated Caxxabis. Hemp. 



Fr. Le Chanvre. Germ. Bev Hanf. Span. Caiiamo. 



Root annual. Stem 5-8 or 10 feet high, obtusely angular and sulcate, scabrous-puoes- 

 cent, often branched. Leaves mostly opposite (the upper ones often alternate) ; leaflets 

 3-5 inches long (the outside or lateral ones much smaller than the others, and often en- 

 lire — especially on the slaminaie plant) ■ common petioles 1-2 or 3 inches long; stipules 

 lanceolate, siaminate flowers greenish, in loose pedunculate axillary clusters, rather 

 crowded in a kind of dense panicle at summit. Pistillate flowers axillary, sessile, mostly 

 in pairs. Calyx subglobose, acuminate, pubescent, green, slit on one side. Stignvis long, 

 slender, densely pubescent, somewhat tawny. Nut ovoid, slightly compressed, smooth, 

 greenish, reticulated with whitish veins, enclosed in the persistent calyx. ' 



Cultivated. Native ol Persia. Fl. June. Fr. Aug. 



Obs. This plant — so important in Commerce and the Arts — is culti- 

 vated on a large scale in Kentucky and some others of the fertile west- 

 ern States-; but only to a limited extent in the middle and northern 

 States. 



9. HU'MULUS, L. Hop. 



[Latin, Humus, moist earth, or mould ; in allusion to its place of growth.] 



Stamixate Fl. in loose oblong axillary-j^an/c/es with 5 sepals, and 5 

 erect stamens. Pistillate Fl. in short axillary and solitary strobile- 

 like aments ; bracts foliaceous, imbricated in several rows, 2-flowered. 

 Calyx a single membranaceous scale-like enlarging sepal, its folded mar- 



