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Vascular Plants of California
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Boehmeria

FALSE NETTLE


Higher Taxonomy
Family: UrticaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key

Common Name: NETTLE FAMILY
Habit: Annual, perennial herb [to shrub, soft-wooded tree], hairs stinging and not [glabrous]; monoecious or dioecious; wind-pollinated. Leaf: alternate or opposite, generally stipuled, petioled, blade often with translucent, raised dots due to crystals in epidermal cells. Inflorescence: axillary, 1-flowered or head-, raceme-, or panicle-like. Flower: generally unisexual, small, +- green; sepals generally 4--5, free to fused; petals 0. Staminate Flower: stamens generally 4--5, opposite sepals, incurved in bud, reflexing suddenly when flower opens. Pistillate Flower: ovary 1, superior, chamber 1, style 0--1, stigma 1, generally hair-tufted. Fruit: generally achene.
Genera In Family: 50 genera, 700 species: worldwide; some cultivated (Boehmeria, ramie; Pilea, clearweed).
eFlora Treatment Author: Robert E. Preston & Dennis W. Woodland
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Boehmeria
Habit: Perennial herb [shrub], stinging hairs 0. Leaf: opposite (alternate), +- ovate, toothed, 3-veined from base; base round to cordate; tip obtuse to acuminate; crystals round. Inflorescence: spike-[panicle-]like. Staminate Flower: sepals 4, +- free; stamens 4. Pistillate Flower: sepals 2--4, fused +- to tip, enclosing ovary. Fruit: flat to lenticular.
Species In Genus: +- 50 species: especially tropics, subtropics; Boehmeria nivea (L.) Gaudich., ramie, cultivated for fiber. Etymology: (G.R. Boehmer, Saxony, 1723--1803)
Jepson eFlora Author: Robert E. Preston & Dennis W. Woodland
Reference: Kravtsova et al. 2000 Kew Bull 55:43--62
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

Previous taxon: Urticaceae
Next taxon: Boehmeria cylindrica


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Citation for this treatment: Robert E. Preston & Dennis W. Woodland 2012, Boehmeria, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=9934, accessed on February 08, 2025.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2025, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on February 08, 2025.