XCI. URTICACEiE 
463 
bristles. Leaves 4-12 in., alternate, stalked, 3-nerved from the 
base, broadly ovate, often deeply lobed, usually cordate, margins 
sharply toothed. Flowers small, green, 1-sexual, sessile, densely 
crowded. Male flowers in long, slender, often paniculately 
branched spikes : perianth 4-parted ; stamens 4. Female flowers 
in short, oblong spikes becoming thick, densely bristly and often 
over 6 in. long in fruit : perianth tubular, narrowed upwards in 
a small 3-toothed mouth, splitting when the fruit ripens ; style 
long, threadlike, persistent, stigma minute. Achenes flattened, 
ovate, black. (Fig. 149.) 
Simla, common in forest ; July, August.— Himalaya, S. India.— Java. 
Roxburgh, JBl. Ind. p. 655, calls this ‘ a most ferocious looking plant.’ The 
stings produce acute pain, but it is of short duration. The stems furnish a 
fine silky fibre, used in Sikkim for ropes, twine and coarse cloth. 
9. PILEA. From the Latin pileus, a cap ; the perianth- 
segments are connate and thrown off in the form of a cap. ■ 
Tropical regions. 
Erect herbs. Leaves stalked, opposite, often unequal, toothed, 
3-nerved from the base. Flowers minute, green, 1-sexual, sessile 
