Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/675

Urtica.] 2. U. australis, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 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 ovateor orbicular-cordate, acute, coarsely toothed or crenate, rather fleshy, 5–7-nerved, glabrous or sparsely pubescent or setose; petiole stout, 1–4 in. long; stipules interpetiolar, large, bifid. Eacemes or panicles simple or branched, axillary, longer or shorter than the petioles, the lower male and the upper female, but both sexes occasionally mixed in the same panicle. Male perianth about $1⁄12$ in. diam., glabrous or nearly so; female rather smaller. Nut ovoid, compressed, smooth, rather shorter than the persistent perianth.—Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 225; ''Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 251.

3. U. Aucklandica, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 68.—A rigid herb, everywhere pubescent with short greyish-white hairs. Stems stout, erect, angled, about 1 ft. high; stinging hairs few, chiefly clustered at the thickened nodes. Leaves opposite, spreading, 2–3 in. long, 1½–2½ in. broad, broadly ovate, acute, usually cordate at the base, rather coriaceous, many-nerved, coarsely serrate or dentate; petioles stout, ½–1 in. long; stipules rather large, interpetiolar, 2-fid or 2-partite. Male flowers alone seen, in short axillary spikes. Perianth-segments 4, rounded, concave, setose on the back. Stamens 4; filaments short.—''Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 252.

4. U. incisa, ''Poir. Encycl. Suppl.'' iv. 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 ½–2½ in. long, broadly ovate-deltoid to lanceolate, acute or acuminate, cordate or truncate or cuneate at the base, deeply and acutely toothed, membranous;