V 
NETTLE TREE. 
Natural Order , XJlmace^:, (Mirbel.) Linnxan Classifica- 
tion , PoLYGAMIA, DkECIA. 
CELTIS,f (Linn.) 
Flowers polygamous. — Staminate flower with the calyx 5 or 
6-parted. Corolla none. Stamens 4 to 7. Perfect flower 
with the calyx deeply 5-parted. No corolla. Ovarium 1- 
celled; the ovules solitary and pendulous. Style very short; 
stigmas 2, thickish, subulate, and spreading. Drupe globu- 
lar, 1 -seeded, thinly coated with a sweetish pulp. Embryo 
inverted. Cotyledones folded. 
The genus within its proper bounds includes deciduous leaved 
trees of South Europe, the Levant, the mountains of Nepal and 
Cuba, and the forests of the United States. The true Celtides 
have alternate, entire, deciduous, and mostly cordate leaves, 
generally oblique at the base, 3-nerved, entire, but mostly ser- 
rated on the margin. The stipules are membranaceous and deci- 
duous. The flowers are precocious, or appear before the expand 
sion of the leaves, with a film-like irregularly torn membranous 
perianth, the staminiferous ones near the base of the branchlet 
pedicellate, and 3 or 4 together. The fertile flowers are solitary 
and axillary, on short peduncles. The drupes brownish-yellow, 
rather sweet, insipid, and nearly juiceless. 
For the tropical species with axillary cymes coeval with the 
leaves, 2 distinct styles and an ovary with 2 ovules, I propose 
the name of Trachydendron, (in allusion to their rough pubes- 
t The ancient name of the Lotus , applied to this genus by 
Linnaeus. 
