XETTLE FAMILY. 



291 



Order LXIY. URTICA'CE^. (Nettle Family.) 



Herbs, shrubs or trees, with stipules and monoecious, dioicious or sometimes perfect flowers, 

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

 seeded/rwii. Embryo in the albumen, when tnis is present ; radicle pointing upwards. 

 Stamens as many as the lobes of the calyx and opposite to thena, 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 ot rich and wholesome milk," belongs to this Order ; as also does the yel- 

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

 tree (Ficus religiosa, L.), of India. A species of Ficus (F. elastica, Roxb.) also yields 

 Caoutchouc, or Gum elastic. 



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

 this, several which have been considered as famihes. 



* 1. Elm Sub-family. 



Trees with walery juice, alternate leeaves and perfect or monceciously polj'gamous flowers. 



Styles or stigmm 2. Fruit a samara or drupe. Seed suspended. 



Flowers mostly perfect. Anthers extrorse. Ovary 2-celled, 2-ovuled. 



Fruit 1-celled, dry, winged. 1. Ui:mus. 



Flowers pol3'gamous. Anthers introrse. Ovary l-celled. 



Fruit a small drupe. 2. Celtis. 



2. Bread-fruit and Fig Sub-family. 



Trees or shrubs with miR-y or colored juice and alternate leaves ; monoe- 

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

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

 receptacle. Styles 1-2. Ovary 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. 



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



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

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

 which is fleshy in fruit. 

 Sterile flowers in spikes. Unarmed. 

 Sterile flowers in racemes. Branches spiny. 



5. Broussonetia. 



6. :Macxura. 



3. Nettle Sub-Family. 



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

 leaves. Flowers monoecious or dioecious in spikes, racemes, kc, not in 

 catkins. Ofary 1-celled, forming an akene in fruit. Stylel. Stamens 

 as many as' the sepals. 

 Sepals 4, in both sterile and fertile flowers. 



Plant beset with stinging 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 sepals and o 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. HcMrLus. 



