XETTUE FAMILY. 



299 



SnxGixG UsTiCA. Small Stinging-nettle. 



Annual. &em S -12 inclies liigli, erect. Leaves 1-2 inches long, obtuse or somewliat 

 cordate at tlie base. 

 Wasie places. New York State and Eastwar l. 



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

 ties, are apt. especiallv the first mentioned, to become troublesome where 

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

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

 some parrs 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, GavAkh), the Wood-nettle, which is not 

 inclined to intrude on cultivated lands. * 



S. CAX'XAEIS, Tournef. Hemp. 



[An ancient Greek namo. — of obscure etymology.] 



Stastdhate Fl., in axiQary compound racemes, or panicles with 5 sepals 

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

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

 globose 0V2 ry. Xut l-ceUed, 2-valved, indehiscent. 



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

 serrate. 



Cultivated Casxabis. Hemp. 



Fr. Le Chanvre. Germ. Der Hanf. Span. Canamo. 



Eoci annuaL Siem .5-8 or 10 feet high, obtusely angular and sulcate, scabrous-pubes- 

 cent, often branched. Leaces 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- 

 tire — especially on the staminate 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. gre€n,"slit on one side! Stigmas long, 

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

 greenish, reticulated with whitish reins, enclosed in the persistent calyx. 



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



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

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

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

 States. 



9. HU':MrLUS, L. Hop. 



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



Stasoxate Fl. in loose oblong axiUary-^janzc/e^ with 5 sepals, and 5 

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

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

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



