278 
TJRTICACEJE. 
[ Ur era. 
rugose with the scars of the fallen leaves. Leaves cordate-ovate, 
green, sub coriaceous, cuspidate, entire, triplinerved, 2-4 in. long ; 
petiole -§-1 in. long ; stipules brown, lanceolate, persistent, i in. long. 
Flowers in copious lax short peduncled compound cymes 1-2 in. long, 
spreading from the nodes of leafless branches. Female flowers sessile, 
solitary or clustered. Achene ovoid, compressed, yellowish, nearly 
•jV in. long, slightly exceeding the campanulate fleshy reddish perianth 
lobes, the densely penicillate stigma slightly oblique. Urtica acuminata, 
Poir.; Bojer , Sort. Maur. 283. 
Mauritius, in woods of Signal Mountain range, etc., Carmichael ! Bouton ! 
Ayres ! Also Timor. 
* Bcehmeria platyphylla , D. Don, ; Wedd. in DC. Prod. xvi. 210, 
a common and variable weed of Tropical Asia, is subspontaneous in 
Mauritius. It is an erect perennial 3-6 feet high, with glabrous or 
hispid stems, small free lanceolate stipules, long-petioled large opposite 
ovate acute toothed membranous sub glabrous or pubescent leaves, 
flowers in lax or close globose clusters on simple or sparsely panicled 
spikes \-l foot long, male perianth 4-partite with 4 stamens, female 
perianth tubular 4-toothed only at the tip closely investing the com- 
pressed oblong achene, which is tipped with a persistent filiform stigma 
longer than itself. The common Mauritian form is var. macrostachya , 
Wedd. (Urtica caudata, Poir. Ency. iv. 640 ; Splitgerbera macrostachya, 
Wight , Ic. t. 1977), with long lax simple spikes and small subglabrous 
leaves. Yar. molliuscula, Wedd. (Sieber, 375), is a form with smaller 
thicker softly pubescent leaves. Dr. Weddell also gives B. 
stipularis , Wedd. in DC. Prod. xvi. 209, as a Mauritian species. 
This is marked by its very large (an inch or more long) connate 
intrapetiolar pubescent stipules and copiously-panicled flower 
spikes. 
6. POUZOLZIA, Gaud. 
Flowers polygamo-monoicous. Male perianth in our species cut 
halfway down into 5 lobes. Stamens 5, surrounding a rudimentary 
ovary. Female perianth gamophyllous, with 5 small teeth at the con- 
tracted mouth, including the free ovary. Stigma filiform. Fruit dry, 
globose. — Undershrubs or herbs; leaves alternate, entire or toothed ; 
flowers of both sexes in small globose clusters, which either form 
spikes or are placed in the axils of the leaves. Distrib. Tropics of 
both hemispheres. Species 35. 
1. P. laevigata, Gaudich. ; Wedd. in DC. Prod. xvi. 224. An under- 
shrub, with stout glabrous brown branchlets marked with the scars of 
the fallen leaves. Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute, deltoid at the 
base, entire, glabrous, 2-4 inches long, deep green above, pale green 
beneath, distinctly triplinerved ; petiole i-f in. long ; stipules i in. long, 
