THE NETTLE FAMILY 
the seedcases (ovaries) of different Fig flowers ; when the eggs are hatched the wasps creep out 
through the aperture of the receptacle, collecting pollen as they push their way through ; they then 
crawl into other flower receptacles to lay their eggs, and in so doing leave the pollen on the stigmas 
of the flowers and fertilise them. 
The Bread-fruit Tree (Artocarpus incisa) also has a curious fruit which is an invaluable article 
of food in hot climates. Its male flowers are collected into sausage-like catkins, while the female 
flowers are clustered together into round heads covering the outside of a conical fleshy receptacle, 
which becomes very much enlarged and merging with the fleshy flowers forms a nutritious fruit 
very like bread. The Cow-tree of Venezuela (Galactodendron utile) gives off, when pierced, a 
quantity of delicious milk. The Wild Hop (Humulus Lupulus) is largely cultivated in England, as 
a bitter substance (lupulin) which is produced in the fruit is used in the manufacture of beer. 
The Elm is valuable as a timber-bearing tree. 
Several species of Indian Fig (Ficus), notably Ficus elastica, are very valuable on account of 
the India-rubber they yield. The milky juice in the trees wells up and forcing its way through any 
rift in the bark hangs down in masses, forming ropes and cords which hang all round the trunks. 
The Fig (Ficus) is either a climber or a tree, and often has an extraordinary root formation. 
Some climbing species send out root-girdles which circle round and round the tree to which the 
stem is clinging. Others throw out roots from the main stem some distance above the ground 
which take root in the soil and form a lattice-work of “supporting roots.” The Banyan-trees 
(Ficus Indica), one of whose species is the Sacred Fig-tree (Ficus religiosa) of the Hindoos, under 
the branches of which Buddha is said to have meditated on the mystery of life, produce “columnar 
roots.” These roots originate from horizontal branches and grow down vertically into the soil 
beneath and so form column-like pillars supporting the branches ; they increase till they look like 
trunks and send out leafy branches. Some trees have hundreds of these trunk-like roots, and 
cover a large area of ground. In Ceylon a native village of about ioo huts has been erected under 
one Banyan-tree. 
Other foreign species yield fibre, useful in the manufacture of textile materials. Hemp 
(Cannabis sativa) is extensively cultivated in many countries, and we receive a large supply from 
Russia and Poland for making into cord, rope, canvas, and other materials. The Paper Mulberry 
(Broussonetia papyrifera) of Japan, the Rhea or Glass-cloth (Boehmeria rivea) of India, and our 
own Nettles (Urticas) all yield useful fibre. 
I. Hop (Humulus). Female flowers in a head, hidden behind bracts ; style short with 2 long 
stigmas ; leaves lobed. 
II. Nettle (Ur'tica). Flowers in clusters without bracts ; style absent, stigma tufted ; leaves with 
stinging hairs. 
III. Pellitory (Parietaria). Flowers stalkless, several in the axils of the leaves, with bracts ; 
style hair-like, stigma tufted. 
I. HOP. (HUMULUS. Linn.) — -Male and female flowers on separate plants (dioecious). Male 
flowers in loose branched clusters (panicles) in the axils of the upper leaves, with a perianth 
of 5 lobes, inserted below the seedcase (inferior) ; 5 stamens, inserted on the base of the perianth ; 
carpels o. Female flowers in pairs in the axil of a bract which enlarges in fruit, clustered in 
shortly stalked round or cone-shaped spikes or heads, with an entire scale-like perianth which 
encloses the seedcase ; carpels 2, united into a 1 -celled seedcase with a short style and 2 long 
stigmas ; fruit small, dry, i-seeded. Twining herbs with opposite stalked leaves, deeply lobed 
towards the base (palmatifid), and with united stipules. 
