Flora Medica

UKTICACEJE.glomerate, variously divided spikes. $> . Calyx cymbiform, tridentate.Very severe, but not permanent, pain is produced by the sting ofthis species.BOHMERIA.$ .Calyx 4-parted. Hypogynous cup 0. Filaments 4, subulate;anthers roundish, didymous. ?.Calyx 0, except a singleoblong scale or bractlet, of which several are clustered together.Ovary 1, obovate, to each scale. Style long, filiform, feathery.Achenium crowned by the permanent style.608 a. B. caudata Swartz fl.ind. occ. i. 279. Willd.iv. 34-0. Woods of Jamaica (Swartz) of Brazil (Martius).Stem suffruticose. Leaves very large, opposite, ovate, acute, veiny,serrated. Racemes very long, pendulous. Flowers dioecious. Thisplant is called Asapeixe in Brazil, according to Von Martius, who statesthat " A decoction of its leaves in baths, is prescribed in hemorrhoidalcomplaints, and is said to produce extraordinary effects. In thenorthern parts of Brazil, where that plant does not grow, they use,instead of it, several kinds of Bohmeria and of Urtica. The family ofthe Urticaceae seems, from the favourable results of the general usemade of it, to be very useful in disorders affecting the vena portaperhaps from the combination of viscous, acrid, and alkaline partsintheir stalks and leaves." Martius Travels, Eng. Trans, ii. 94.HUMULUS.$ . Sepals 5, oblong, concave, obtuse. Filaments 5, capillary,very short. Anthers vertical, oblong, of 2 cells, opening by 2lateral slits. ? . Catkin of numerous, membranous, imbricated,concave bracts, 1 to each floret. Calyx none, except a bractletwhich embraces the ovary and grows with it after flowering. Stigmas2, awl-shaped, spreading, downy. Achenium attached tothe base of each enlarged, membranous, dry scale of the catkin,roundish ;pericarp hard, brittle, covered by roundish aromaticsuperficial glands, or lupuline.609. H.Lupulus Linn. sp. pi. 14-57. E. Bot. t. 427. Millillustr. t. 88. Smith Eng. fl.iv. 240. Bigelow Amer. Bot. iii.t. 164. Common in hedges in many parts of Europe. Oftenwild in the United States. (Hops.)A perennial plant, with annual stems, climbing to a great height,twining from right to left, angular, rough, with minute reflexed hairs.Leaves opposite on long winding petioles, the smaller ones heartshaped,the larger ones 3- or 5-lobed, serrated, veiny and extremelyrough. Flowering branches axillary, angular and rough. Stipules2 or 4, between the petioles, ovate, reflexed. Flowers numerous andof a greenish colour. Those of the males very numerous and panicled.Sepals 5, oblong, obtuse, co'ncave. spreading,Stamens short ; anthersoblong, bursting by 2 terminal pores. The female flowers, growing ona separate plant, are in the form of a catkin, having each pair of flowerssupported by a bract, which is ovate, acute, tubular at base. Sepalsolitary, obtuse, smaller than the bract and infolding the ovary. Ovary296