Home › U › Urticaceae (Natural order of trees shrubs)

Urticaceae (Natural order of trees shrubs)

A natural order of trees, shrubs, or herbs, broadly dispersed over the temperate and warmer regions of the globe. Flowers unisexual or rarely polygamous, regular or by reduction irregular; perianth simple, calycine; stamens of the male flowers as many as the perianth segments, very rarely fewer or rather more, the anthers ovate or oblong; staminodes of the females rare, the ovary superior, or in a few genera more or less inferior; primary inflorescence centripetal, axillary or at the nodes, never terminal; ultimate inflorescence normally centrifugal, cymulose; bracts often small or wanting; bracteoles minute or wanting, sometimes conspicuous. Fruit indehiscent, one-seeded. Leaves alternate or rarely opposite, entire, toothed, lobed, or palmately parted, not pinnate, very rarely pinnatifid. Among the more important members of this order the following may be enumerated: Breadfruit-tree (Artocarpus incisa), Elm (Ulmus), Fig (Ficus Carica), Hemp (Cannabis sativa), Hop (Humulus Lupulus), Indiarubber--plant (Ficus elastica), Mulberry (Morus alba and M. nigra). Several of the species are valuable timber trees. The order is divided into eight tribes: Artocarpeae, Cannabineae, Celtideae, Conocephaleae, Moreae, Thelygoneae, Ulmeae, and Urticeae. It embraces nearly 110 genera and 1500 species. Examples: Artocarpus, Cannabis, Ficus, Humulus, Morus, Ulmus, Urtica.