Monographie de la famille des urticées.

Paris, Muséum d'Histoire naturelle de Paris, 1856-1857. Large 4to (31.6 x 24.7 cm). Title page (to the volume), drop head title, 592 pp.; 20 engraved plates, one folded chart. 19th-century half calf over marbled boards. Gilt title and gilt lines on the spine. Marbled endpapers. = A fine monograph by the British (later French) botanist Hugh Algernon Weddell (1819-1877) of the nettle plant family. The Urticaceae, with a worldwide distribution, include a number of well-known and useful plants. The family contains some 2600 species, grouped into 54 to 79 genera according to the database of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, UK. The largest genera are Pilea (over 500 species), Elatostema (more than 300 species), Urtica (80), and Cecropia (75). Important species are, for instance, the fiber crop, ramie (Boehmeria nivea), the Hawaiian mamaki (Pipturus albidus) which is known as a medically important herb, or, rather, tree, and the stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) which is widely used in food and as a medicine. Weddell described many new species in this work. Published in the Muséum's Archives, Volume 9, and almost completely covering this volume (only a two-pages herpetological memoir is also included). Uncut, with wide margins. A few text pages and plates lightly, to moderately spotted, otherwise a very good, unmarked copy. Stafleu and Cowan, 16946.