Common Name: NETTLE FAMILY Habit: Annual, perennial herb [to shrub, soft-wooded tree], hairs stinging and not [glabrous]; monoecious or dioecious; wind-pollinated. Leaf: alternate or opposite, generally stipuled, petioled, blade often with translucent, raised dots due to crystals in epidermal cells. Inflorescence: axillary, 1-flowered or head-, raceme-, or panicle-like. Flower: generally unisexual, small, +- green; sepals generally 4--5, free to fused; petals 0. Staminate Flower: stamens generally 4--5, opposite sepals, incurved in bud, reflexing suddenly when flower opens. Pistillate Flower: ovary 1, superior, chamber 1, style 0--1, stigma 1, generally hair-tufted. Fruit: generally achene. Genera In Family: 50 genera, 700 species: worldwide; some cultivated (Boehmeria, ramie; Pilea, clearweed). eFlora Treatment Author: Robert E. Preston & Dennis W. Woodland Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.
Common Name: WESTERN NETTLE Habit: Annual, erect, slender, stinging hairs present; monoecious. Leaf: opposite, toothed. Inflorescence: generally head-like, of both staminate, pistillate flowers. Staminate Flower: sepals 4, +- free; stamens 4. Pistillate Flower: sepals 2--4, +- equal, fused +- to tip. Fruit: lenticular, enclosed by ovate, sac-like, membranous calyx. Etymology: (Greek: western nettle) Unabridged Reference: Woodland et al. 1976 Canad J Bot 54:374--383
Hesperocnide tenella Torr.
NATIVE Stem: < 5 dm. Leaf: 4--40 mm, ovate, thin, blunt-serrate; stipules small; petiole +- < blade, slender; crystals generally elongate, rounder in fully exposed pls. Inflorescence: < petiole, +- spheric. Flower: calyx 1--1.5 mm. Fruit: ovate. Ecology: Moist, shaded areas, often at base of rocks or shrubs, in chaparral, coastal scrub, riparian woodland, mesic oak woodland; Elevation: < 1200 m. Bioregional Distribution: CW, SW (uncommon NCo, NCoRI, SNF); Distribution Outside California: northern Baja California. Flowering Time: Feb--Jun Jepson eFlora Author: Robert E. Preston & Dennis W. Woodland Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Hesperocnide Next taxon: Parietaria
Botanical illustration including Hesperocnide tenella
Citation for this treatment: Robert E. Preston & Dennis W. Woodland 2012, Hesperocnide tenella, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=28033, accessed on January 23, 2025.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2025, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on January 23, 2025.
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurrence).
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