Dicotyledons with Incomplete Flowers — Platanacecs. 
95 
Distribution. —Based upon the solitary genus Plane (Platanus), which includes not more than 
four or five species; one of which is indigenous in the Levant, the rest in North America. 
Leaves with the petiole conically dilated and hollow at the base, concealing the axillary bud of next year’s 
growth until its fall. 
Flowers destitute of true perianth : the heads of male flowers consisting of a number of closely-packed 
subsessile anthers ; the heads of female flowers, of club-shaped ovaries terminated by long persistent laterally 
stigmatose styles, intermixed with bristles and minute scales. 
USES, &c.—The Eastern Plane (Platanus orientalis ) and Western Plane (P. occidentalis) are valued as 
ornamental trees and much planted in the South of England. These species are very closely allied if not severed 
geographical races of one species. 
Natural Order 
U RT I CACEiE. Tab. 79. 
D iagnosis.— Herbs (or exotic shrubs) with watery juice and opposite or 
alternate leaves. Flowers unisexual or polygamous. Stamens as many as 
perianth-segments and opposite to them. Ovary free, 1-celled, with 1 erect 
ovule. 
Distribution. —A considerable and widely-dispersed Natural Order, most numerous in genera 
and species in the Tropics, but, in individuals of two or three social species, abounding in temperate 
and cool regions. Common Stinging Nettle is one of the commonest weeds accompanying man in his 
migrations. 
Number of British Genera, 2 ; Species 4., 
