TJRTICACE.35. 
273 
Stigma subulate. 
Fruit dry, free from the ovary. 
Clusters in long spikes * B(ehmeria. 
Clusters sessile in the axils of the leaves . . . . 6. Pouzolzia. 
Fruit subbaccate and adherent to the ovary . . .7. Pipturtjs. 
Female perianth obsolete. 
Stamens 4. Flowers without an involucre .... * Phenax. 
Stamens 1. Flowers surrounded by an involucre . . . 8. Droguetia. 
* TJrtica urens, Linn.; Wedd. in. DC. Prod. xvi. 40, the second 
commonest herbaceous stinging nettle of the north temperate zone, is 
established in some places in Mauritius. It is an annual herb, with 
small distinctly-petioled deeply toothed leaves as broad as long, 
flowers in small congested monoicous cymes in the axils of the leaves, 
4 free perianth-segments, 4 stamens and a compressed ovate achene as 
long as the perianth with a sessile penicillate stigma. Ortie de 
France. 
1. OBETIA, Gaud. 
Flowers polygamo-dioicous. Male perianth 5-partite, with oblong 
obtuse lobes and 5 stamens round a rudimentary pistil. Female perianth 
4-partite, with unequal segments. Ovary at first symmetrical, becoming 
oblique as it matures ; stigma nearly sessile. Fruit an ovoid com 
pressed achene. — Erect shrubs with large free stipules, copious sting- 
ing hairs, alternate petioled leaves and flowers in axillary panicles. 
Distrib. One other species in Madagascar. 
1 . O. ficifolia, Gaud. Bot. Voy. Bon, Ail. t. 82. Branches rugose, £-| 
in. thick, with the leaves crowded at the top. Leaves membranous, as 
broad as long (3-9 in.), deeply cordate, palmatifid with 3-7 deltoid in- 
ciso-crenate lobes, green and sparsely hispid above, paler and densely 
bristly beneath ; petiole 2-6 in. long, finely pubescent ; stipules large, 
free, scariose, persistent. Flowers in ample peduncled panicles with 
bristly branches, with the flowers of both sexes in sessile clusters. 
Achene in. long, included in the accrescent perianth. Urtica fici- 
folia, JPoir. ; Bojer, Hort. Maur. 293. 
Mauritius, in woods, Telfair ! Rodriguez, in the upper part of the valleys, not 
common, Balfour / Also Bourbon and Madagascar. Figue marron. 
2. PILEA, Lindl. 
Flowers polygamo-monoicous or dioicous, those of both sexes in cymes 
without any discoid receptacle. Male perianth 4-partite, with ovate 
white or reddish segments with usually a mucro below the tip ; stamens 
4, surrounding a rudimentary ovary. Female perianth 3-partite, with 
unequal segments. Ovary permanently erect, ovoid, surrounded by rudi- 
mentary stamens ; stigma subsessile, penicillate. Fruit a compressed 
achene.— Annual or perennial herbs, with opposite or whorled leaves. 
T 
