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false-nettle, small-spike false nettle

Habit Herbs or subshrubs, 1-16 dm.
Leaves

blades elliptic, lanceolate to broadly ovate, 5-18 × 2-10 cm, almost glabrous on both surfaces or abaxially densely short-pilose or puberulent, adaxially scabrous.

Inflorescences

spikelike, often leafy at apex.

Flowers

in remote or crowded clusters of 1-few staminate and several pistillate flowers or rarely staminate and pistillate flowers on different plants.

Achenes

ovoid to nearly orbicular, 0.9-1.6 × 0.9-1.2 mm, almost glabrous or pubescent with straight and hooked hairs;

seeds prominent, conspicuous in outline, surrounded except at base by corky tissue.

2n

= 28.

Boehmeria cylindrica

Phenology Flowering summer–fall.
Habitat Alluvial or moist, deciduous woods, swamps, bogs, marshes, wet meadows, ditches
Elevation 0-1800 m (0-5900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WI; WV; NB; ON; QC; Mexico; Central America; West Indies; Bermuda; South America (Argentina, s Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Populations of Boehmeria cylindrica are disjunct in South America.

Plants with thick, often drooping, lanceolate leaf blades, more or less pilose or puberulent abaxially, scabrous adaxially, with short petioles, pilose or puberulent stems, and densely pubescent achenes have been called Boehmeria cylindrica var. drummondiana. These plants are found mostly, but not exclusively, in the southeastern United States and are totally sympatric with more typical plants. The above characteristics may or may not occur together, and each grades into the state found in more typical plants through abundant intermediates. Field and experimental studies are needed to clarify the biologic basis of this variation.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Urticaceae > Boehmeria
Sibling taxa
B. nivea
Synonyms Urtica cylindrica, B. cylindrica var. drummondiana, B. decurrens, B. drummondiana, B. scabra
Name authority (Linnaeus) Swartz: Prodr., 34. (1788)
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