382 URTICACEAE. [ Urtica. 
5. U. ineisa Poir. Encycl. Suppl. iv (1817) 224.—Stems slender, erect 
or decumbent at the base, much or sparingly branched or simple, sparsely 
clothed with weak stinging hairs but otherwise glabrous, 1-2 ft. high, 
rarely more. Leaves on long slender petioles, very variable in size and 
shape; blade 4-2hin. long, broadly ovate-deltoid to lanceolate, acute or 
acuminate, cordate or truncate or cuneate at the base, deeply and acutely 
toothed, membranous; stinging hairs few, weak. ‘Spikes or racemes single 
or geminate in the axils of the upper leaves, often branched, longer 
or shorter than the petioles, the lower male and the upper female, or 
inflorescence altogether monoecious. Male perianth +; in. diam., glabrous 
or nearly so; female perianth much smaller when in flower but enlarging as 
the fruit ripens. Nut ovoid, compressed, rather longer than the persistent 
slightly enlarged perianth.—Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 251; Benth. 
Fl. Austral. vi (1873) 190; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 635. U. lucituga 
Hook. f. in Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. vi (1847) 285 ; Fl. Nov. Zel. 1 (1853) 225. 
Norra AND SoutH Istanps: Not uncommon in shaded places, from the North 
Cape to Foveaux Strait. Sea-level to 4000 ft. Flowers spring and summer. 
Also common in Australia and Tasmania, and very near to the northern U. dioica 
(which is sparingly naturalized in New Zealand), principally differing in the more slender 
habit, in not being conspicuously pubescent between the stinging hairs, and in the 
usually shorter spikes. 
6. U. linearifolia Cockayne in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xlvii (1915) 111.— 
Stems weak, slender, erect or flexuose, much or sparingly branched, more 
or less clothed with weak stinging hairs but otherwise glabrous, 1-3 ft. 
high. Leaves on slender petioles, variable in size and shape, but always 
much narrower than those of U. incisa; blade 4-4 in. long, 4-3 in. wide, 
lanceolate to linear-lanceolate or linear, coarsely or finely toothed, usually 
cuneate at the base. Spikes much shorter than those of U. ineasa, often 
reduced to axillary glomerules. Inflorescence much as in U. incisa, but 
flowers smaller. Nuts brown, ovoid, persistent after the perianth has 
fallen.—U. lucifuga var. linearifolia Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 225. 
U. incisa var. linearifolia Cheesem. Man. N Z. Fl. (1906) 636. 
No-2W L. pie 
Norta Istanp: Lake” Papaitonga, near Levin, B, O. Aston; Makurerua Swamp, 
Cockayne. Sovran Isuanp: Clarence Valley, 7. F. C.; various localities in eastern 
Otago, Petrie! Humboldt Mountains, Cockayne. Sea-level to 4000 ft. December- 
February. 
9 ELATOSTEMA Forst. \77&. Anrew. Coro, 
Herbs, sometimes woody at the base. Leaves distichous, alternate, or 
if opposite one of each pair much smaller than the other, sessile or nearly 
so, oblique and unequal-sided ; stipules lateral or intrapetiolar. Flowers 
very minute, densely crowded in axillary sessile or peduncled unisexual 
usually involucrate receptacles ; involucral bracts broadly oblong or ovate, 
nearly free or confluent below. Male flowers: Perianth 4—5-partite ; 
segments membranous or hyaline, often spurred or tubercled on the back. 
Stamens 4-5, inflexed in bud. Rudimentary ovary minute. Female 
flowers: Perianth of 3-5 very minute segments or altogether wanting. 
Stamens imperfect. Ovary straight; stigma sessile, penicillate; ovule 
erect. Achene. minute, compressed, ovoid or ellipsoid, smooth or rarely 
ribbed. Seed erect; albumen usually wanting; cotyledons ovate. 
About 80 species are known, for the most part natives of tropical Asia and Africa, 
but the genus extends northwards to Japan, and southwards to New Zealand. 
