Urticaceae

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Urticaceae A family of small trees, shrubs, or dicotyledonous (see DICOTYLEDON) herbs, often with stinging hairs, with simple leaves, and only small, usually unisexual, clustered flowers. The flowers have a perianth of 4 or 5 segments, 4 or 5 stamens in the male flowers, and a 1-called ovary in the female. The fruits are either dry nutlets or drupes. Modern classifications recognize about 52 genera and 1050 species, distributed widely in most regions of the world.

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