Flora of North America species comparison

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Urtica dioica

Urtica dioica subsp. holosericea

common nettle, ortie, stinging nettle
Photo is of parent taxon

stinging nettle
Habit Herbs, perennial, rhizomatous, 5-30 dm.
Stems

simple or branched, erect or sprawling.

softly pubescent, also with stinging hairs.
Leaf

blades elliptic, lanceolate, or narrowly to broadly ovate, 6-20 × 2-13 cm, base rounded to cordate, margins coarsely serrate, sometimes doubly serrate, apex acute or acuminate;

cystoliths rounded.

blades abaxially sparsely to densely tomentose to moderately strigose, soft to touch, with stinging hairs, adaxially without or rarely with a few stinging hairs.
Inflorescences

paniculate, pedunculate, elongate.

Flowers

unisexual, staminate and pistillate on same or different plants, staminate ascending, the pistillate lax or recurved.

unisexual, staminate and pistillate mostly on same plants.
Pistillate flowers

outer tepals linear to narrowly spatulate or lanceolate, 0.8-1.2 mm, inner tepals ovate to broadly ovate, 1.4-1.8 × 1.1-1.3 mm.

Achenes

ovoid to broadly ovoid, 1-1.3(-1.4) × 0.7-0.9 mm.

2n

= 26.

Urtica dioica

Urtica dioica subsp. holosericea
Phenology Flowering late spring–summer.
Habitat Alluvial woods, margins of deciduous or mixed woodlands, fencerows, waste places
Elevation 0-3100 m (0-10200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AL; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OK; OR; PA; RI; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; NT; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; Mexico; Eurasia
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; Mexico
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 3 (3 in the flora).

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

Urtica dioica subsp. holosericea is highly variable in leaf shape and degree of pubescence. The least pubescent plants appear to grade into U. dioica subsp. gracilis, and it is sometimes difficult to separate the two.

The name U. serra Blume has been misapplied to this taxon.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Plants unisexual, staminate and pistillate flowers on different plants; leaf blades abaxially hispid, both surfaces with stinging hairs.
subsp. dioica
1. Plants unisexual, staminate and pistillate flowers mostly on same plants; leaf blades abaxially bearing stinging hairs, otherwise glabrous, puberulent, or tomentose and moderately strigose, adaxially without (rarely with a few) stinging hairs.
→ 2
2. Stems glabrous or strigose, with a few stinging hairs; leaf blades abaxially glabrous or puberulent.
subsp. gracilis
2. Stems softly pubescent, also with stinging hairs; leaf blades abaxially tomentose to moderately strigose.
subsp. holosericea
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Urticaceae > Urtica Urticaceae > Urtica > Urtica dioica
Sibling taxa
U. chamaedryoides, U. gracilenta, U. urens
U. dioica subsp. dioica, U. dioica subsp. gracilis
Subordinate taxa
U. dioica subsp. dioica, U. dioica subsp. gracilis, U. dioica subsp. holosericea
Synonyms U. holosericea, U. breweri, U. dioica var. holosericea, U. dioica var. occidentalis, U. gracilis var. greenei, U. gracilis subsp. holosericea, U. gracilis var. holosericea
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 984. (1753) (Nuttall) Thorne: Aliso 6: 68. (1967)
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).



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