Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Urtica chamaedryoides

Urtica gracilenta

heartleaf nettle, slim stingingnettle

mountain nettle
Habit Herbs, annual, with taproot, 1.5-8 dm. Herbs, annual, with taproot, 3-20 dm.
Stems

usually branched from base, erect or reclining.

simple or branched from base, erect.
Leaf

blades narrowly ovate to orbiculate, distal blades sometimes lanceolate, 2-8 × 1-6 cm, base nearly cordate to rounded, sometimes cuneate in distal leaves, margins serrate, apex rounded to acute;

cystoliths rounded or ± elongate.

blades ovate to broadly ovate, distal blades becoming ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 7-15 × 5-10 cm, base truncate to cordate, margins coarsely dentate, apex acute to caudate;

cystoliths rounded or occasionally elongate.
Inflorescences

± globose cymes.

racemose, elongate.
Flowers

unisexual, staminate and pistillate intermixed in same inflorescence, sessile to short-pedunculate.

unisexual, staminate and pistillate in separate inflorescences, or with a few pistillate flowers at apex of staminate inflorescences, subsessile to short-pedunculate.
Pistillate flowers

outer tepals linear, 0.4-0.8 mm, inner tepals ovate, 1.4-2 × 1-1.4 mm.

outer tepals lanceolate to narrowly ovate, 0.8-1 mm, inner tepals broadly ovate, 1.4-2.2 × 1.3-1.4 mm.
Achenes

ovoid to broadly ellipsoid, 1.2-1.4(-1.6) × 0.8-1 mm.

ovoid, 1.4-1.6 × 1-1.1 mm.
2n

= 26.

= 26.

Urtica chamaedryoides

Urtica gracilenta
Phenology Flowering all year except early winter. Flowering summer–fall, occasionally all year.
Habitat Rich, wooded slopes, bluffs, stream banks, swamps, waste places, and fields, often on limestone or nearly neutral soils Alluvial or calcareous soils, often in moist, shaded places
Elevation 0-600 m (0-2000 ft) 1200-2800 m (3900-9200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; KS; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; OH; OK; SC; TN; TX; n Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; NM; TX; n Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Urticaceae > Urtica Urticaceae > Urtica
Sibling taxa
U. dioica, U. gracilenta, U. urens
U. chamaedryoides, U. dioica, U. urens
Synonyms U. chamaedryoides var. runyonii
Name authority Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 1: 113. (1814) Greene: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 8: 122. (1881)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers