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.
Habit: Perennial herb 5--30 dm, from rhizome, +- erect, stinging hairs few to many, non-stinging 0 to dense, generally shorter. Leaf: blade 6--20 cm, narrow-lanceolate to wide-ovate, base tapered to cordate. Inflorescence: spike-, raceme-, or panicle-like, 1--7 cm, generally > petiole, of staminate or pistillate flowers. Fruit: ovate. Note:Urtica dioica subsp. dioica dioecious, native to Eurasia; naturalized in North America; report from California in FNANM based on an unconfirmed collection.
Urtica dioica L. subsp. holosericea (Nutt.) Thorne
NATIVE Habit: Generally monoecious. Stem: 10--30 dm. Leaf: narrow-lanceolate to wide-ovate. Chromosomes: 2n=26. Ecology: Meadows, seeps, springs, margins of marshes, streams, lakes, moist areas in chaparral, coastal scrub; Elevation: < 3370 m. Bioregional Distribution: CA-FP (exc but expected NCo, SNF), GB, DMoj (uncommon); Distribution Outside California: western United States, northern Mexico. Flowering Time: Jun--Sep Note: Plants in shade tend to have wider leaves, fewer hairs, so approach Urtica dioica subsp. gracilis. This name is a later homonym and therefore illegitimate, so that a new combination in Urtica dioica at the rank of subsp. needs to be made. Synonyms: Urtica holosericea Nutt. 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. gracilis Next taxon: Urtica urens
Botanical illustration including Urtica dioica subsp. holosericea
Citation for this treatment: Robert E. Preston & Dennis W. Woodland 2012, Urtica dioica subsp. holosericea, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=53303, accessed on April 25, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 25, 2024.
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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 occurence).
Data provided by the participants of the
Consortium of California Herbaria.
MAP LEGEND View all CCH records All markers link to CCH specimen records. The original determination is shown in the popup window.
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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CCH collections by month
Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).
