cannabaceae

hops flowers

 

CANNABACEAE

Martinov. 1820

pronounced: kan-nuh-BAY-see-eye

the hemp family

 

Cannabaceae is derived from the Greek κανναβις (kannabis), hemp. The family contains trees, shrubs, erect herbs and climbing vines. Leaves are often more-or-less palmately lobed or palmately compound, and always bear stipules. Flowers are radially symmetrical, and not showy, as the plants are wind-pollinated. They are usually unisexual, the axillary inflorescences cymes. There are no petals. The female flowers have 5 sepals fused together below the ovary. In some genera, the fruit is subtended by a bract that may be large enough to conceal the flowers and fruits (hops). The fruit may be an achene or a drupe.

 

 

 

Photograph by Dr Hagen Graebner, via Wikimedia Commons