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: STINGING NETTLE Habit: Annual, perennial herb [to shrub], weak, stinging hairs 0 or few to many; monoecious or dioecious. Stem: branched or not, erect, spreading, or decumbent. Leaf: opposite, lanceolate to cordate, toothed, prominently 3--5-veined from base; crystals round to elongate. Inflorescence: head-, raceme-, or panicle-like. Staminate Flower: sepals 4, +- free, green, sharp-bristly; stamens 4. Pistillate Flower: sepals 4, +- free, outer 2 < inner 2. Fruit: lenticular to deltate, enclosed by 2 inner sepals. Etymology: (Latin: to burn, from stinging hairs) Unabridged Reference: Woodland 1982 Syst Bot 7:282--290
Urtica urens L.
NATURALIZED Habit: Annual 1--6(8) dm, from slender taproot, monoecious; non-stinging hairs 0 to moderate. Stem: simple or branched, erect. Leaf: blade 18--40(90) mm, elliptic to broad-elliptic, base wedge-shaped, margins coarse-serrate, tip acute. Inflorescence: generally head- or spike-like, 5--25 mm, often < petiole, of staminate and pistillate flowers. Fruit: 1.5--2.5 mm, deltate. Chromosomes: 2n=24,26,52. Ecology: Disturbed areas, stream banks, shaded areas in grassland, oak woodland, chaparral, coastal-sage scrub, riparian woodland; Elevation: < 1000 m. Bioregional Distribution: NCo, NCoRO, n&s SNF, Teh, GV, CW, SW, w DSon (Coachella Valley), reported from MP; Distribution Outside California: native to Europe. Flowering Time: Jan--Jun Jepson eFlora Author: Robert E. Preston & Dennis W. Woodland Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Urtica dioica subsp. holosericea Next taxon: Valerianaceae
Citation for this treatment: Robert E. Preston & Dennis W. Woodland 2012, Urtica urens, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=47589, accessed on December 02, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on December 02, 2024.
Geographic subdivisions for Urtica urens:
NCo, NCoRO, n&s SNF, Teh, GV, CW, SW, w DSon (Coachella Valley), reported from MP
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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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Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
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Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).
