Flora of North America species comparison

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Urtica urens

annual nettle, annual stinging nettle, burning nettle, dog nettle, dwarf nettle, small nettle
Habit Herbs, annual, with taproot, 1-8 dm.
Stems

simple or branched, erect.
Leaf

blades elliptic to broadly elliptic, widest near middle, 1.8-9 × 1.2-4.5 cm, base cuneate, margins coarsely serrate, serrations often with lateral lobes, apex acute;

cystoliths rounded.
Inflorescences

spikelike or paniculate.
Flowers

unisexual, staminate and pistillate in same inflorescence, subsessile to short-pedunculate.
Pistillate flowers

outer tepals ovate, 0.5-0.7 mm, inner tepals broadly ovate, 0.6-0.9 × 1.2-1.4 mm.
Achenes

ovoid, 1.5-1.8 × 1.1-1.3 mm.
2n

= 24, 26.

Urtica urens
Phenology Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Waste places, roadsides, pastures, barnyards, cultivated fields, rich woodlands
Elevation 0-700 m (0-2300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; AL; AZ; CA; CT; FL; IA; IL; MA; ME; MI; MO; NH; NM; NV; NY; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; TX; VT; WA; AB; BC; MB; NB; NF; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; SPM; Greenland; Eurasia [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Within the flora, Urtica urens is most abundant in California and in eastern Canada. The Shuswap used it medicinally for sweatbaths and for pain from rheumatism (D. E. Moerman 1986).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Urticaceae > Urtica
Sibling taxa
U. chamaedryoides, U. dioica, U. gracilenta
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 984. (1753)
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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