380 URTICACEAE. . [ Urtica. 
1. URTICA Linn. 1724S t- 1. 
Annual or perennial herbs or small shrubs, more or less armed with 
stinging hairs. Leaves opposite, petiolate, toothed or lobed, 3—7-nerved ; 
stipules lateral, free or connate. Flowers small, green, monoecious or 
dioecious, in clusters arranged in axillary simple or branched racemes or 
panicles. Male flowers: Perianth deeply 4-partite ; segments ovate or 
rounded, concave. Stamens 4, inflexed in bud. Rudimentary ovary 
cupuliform. Female flowers: Perianth deeply 4-partite; the 2 outer 
segments smaller than the inner. Ovary straight, ovoid; stigma sessile 
or nearly so, penicillate; ovule solitary, erect, orthotropous. Achene » 
ovoid or oblong, compressed, enclosed in the persistent perianth. Seed 
erect ; albumen scanty ; cotyledons rounded. 
Species 30 to 35, widely spread in the temperate and subtropical regions of both 
hemispheres, rarer in the tropics. One of the sib 3 Zealand species extends to 
Australia, the remaining three are endemic. 
Shrubby, 3-10 ft. high. Stinging hairs copious, long, rigid. Leaves 
2—5 in., narrow ovate-triangular to lanceolate 1. U. ferox. 
Herbaceous, stout, 1-3 ft. high, glabrous or nearly so. Stinging 
hairs few, weak. Leaves 3- “6 j in., ovate- or orbicular-cordate .. 2, U. australis. 
Herbaceous, stout, 1 ft. high, pubescent with greyish-white hairs. 
Leaves 2-3 in., broadly ovate ‘ 3. U. aucklandica. 
Dioecious, stout, subcoriaceous, everywhere clothed with copious 
stinging hairs. Leaves broad 4. U. aspera. 
Monoecious, slender, thin ; stinging hairs few. Leaves broad 5. U. incisa. 
Tall, slender, stems often flexuous. Leaves linear or linear- 
lanceolate 6. U. linearifolia. 
1. U. ferox Forst. f. Prodr. (1786) n. 346.—A slender much-branched 
shrub, sometimes 6-10 ft. high with a woody trunk 3-4 in. diam. at the 
base, but usually from 2 to 5ft.; stinging hairs copious, long, rigid, 
4-+in. long; branchlets, petioles, and under-surface of leaves more or 
less finely pubescent. Leaves on long slender petioles ; blade 2-5 in. long, 
narrow ovate-triangular to lanceolate-triangular, acuminate, broadest at 
the base which is truncate or rounded or cordate and often lobed or hastate, 
thin and membranous; margins deeply and coarsely toothed, the teeth 
ending in a long rigid bristle; stipules interpetiolar, entire. Flowers 
dioecious, in axillary racemiform panicles 1-2in. long. Perianth densely 
pubescent, females smaller than the males. Nut ovoid, compressed, about 
zoi. long.—A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. (1832) 354; A. Cunn. Precur. (1838) 
n. 333; Raoul Choix (1846) 42; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 225; 
Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 251; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 634. 
NortH And Souta Istanps: Ngamahanga, near Kawakawa, as of Islands, 
Tl’. H. Trevor! Marokopa, E£. Phillips Turner! Ongarue, 7. F. C.; Taumarunui, 
Cockayne ; Makatote, H. B. Matthews / Patetere Range, south of Te Aroha, Downard ! 
Paeroa Range, near Waiotapu, A. Allison / East Cape and Kawhia southwards to 
eastern Otago, not common. Tree-nettle ; Ongaonga. Sea-level to 2000 ft. 
A very distinct species, easily recognized by the large size, woody stems, and 
copious stipitate stinging hairs. 
2. U. australis Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i (1844) 68.—Stems 1-3 ft. high, 
erect or decumbent at the base, stout, succulent, glabrous or sparingly 
clothed with short white hairs ; stinging hairs few, weak, chiefly clustered 
at the nodes. Leaves opposite, the upper sometimes ternate ; blade 3-6 in. 
long or even more, broadly ovate- or orbicular-cordate, acute, coarsely 
toothed or crenate, rather fleshy, 5-7-nerved, glabrous or sparsely pubescent 
