NETTLE EAMILY. 



297 



leaves npon the young shoots and suckers present a remarkable diversity 

 of shape. The pistillate tree is much less common than the staminate ; 

 and is even more objectionable than that, in streets, on account of the 

 dirty appearance produced by the fallen fruit. The inner bark of this 

 tree"^ affords the South Sea Islanders a kind of tough paper, which they 

 use as substitute for cloth. 



6. MACLU'RA, Nutt. Osage-oraxge. 



[Xamed in honor of William Maclure, — a munificent patron of Xatural Science.] 



Flowers dicEcious. Sta^iixate Fl. racemose. Calyx 4-parted. Pistil- 

 late Fl., capitate, densely crowded, and coalesced, on a globose fleshy 

 receptacle. Sepals 4, in opposite pairs, oblong, cucullate-concave, fleshy. 

 Ovary sessile, 1-celled ; style terminal, bifid, — one branch elongated and 

 much exserted, stigmatose on the inner side — the other branch small or 

 abortive. Akenes severally embraced by the fleshy sepals, which are all co- 

 alesced into a large compound globose Jactescent berry, with a glabrous, 

 but uneven, verrucose or irregularly tessellated surface. Small trees, with 

 branches armed with very sharp slender spines. 



1. M. auranti'aca, -ZVut. Leaves lance-ovate, acuminate, entire, gla- 

 brous and shining above, roughish-puberulent beneath ; berry subsessile, 

 axillary, solitary. 



Orange-like Maclura. Osage-orange. Bow-wood. Bodock. 



stem 15-25 or 30 feet high, with a much-branched bushy top, — the branches virgate, 

 but often inclined to droop or curve downwards, armed with small and very sharp spines. 

 Leaves 4-6 inches long, subcoriaceous, mucronate by the extended midrib ; petioles 1-2 

 inches long ; stipules obloug, somewhat cucuUate, caducous. Pistillate flawers coalesced 

 in a solid globose head, which is 2 to near 3 inches in diameter, when fully grown ; styles 

 near an inch long, villous and linallv purplish. 



South Western j^tates. Fl. May- June. Fr. Sept. - Oct. 



Ohs. The roots of this tree are of a bright orange color, and so abun- 

 dant and extensive as to be troublesome in gardens. The wood is very 

 hard and durable. It was highly valued by the aborigines as a mate- 

 rial for making bows, from which fact it was called by the early French 

 settlers Bois d'arc, which has degenerated into Bodock in some parts of 

 the country. Silk-worms feed greedily upon its leaves ; and the plant, 

 properly managed, makes a very neat and effective hedge. 



7. URTI'CA, L. Nettle. 



[Latin, uro, to burn, tixctus, touch ; from the sensation produced by touching it.] 



Flowers moncecious or dioecious, in panicled racemes or spikes, or close 

 clusters. Sta:^i. Fl. Sepals 4. Stamens 4, inserted around the cup- 

 shaped rudiments of a pistil. Pistillate Fl Sepals 4, in opposite 

 pairs ; the outer pair nmch smaller, somewhat keeled, spreading ; the 

 two inner flat or concave, in fruit membranaceous and enclosing the 

 straight and erect ovate flattened akene. Stigma pencil- tufted. Plants 

 with opposite leaves, greeuhhfioicers, and armed with stinging hairs. 

 13- 



