Species
Urtica dioica subsp. dioica
Etymology
Urtica: from the Latin verb urere which means "to burn"
dioica: two plants
Common Name(s)
perennial nettle
Family
Urticaceae
Flora Category
Vascular - Exotic
Structural Class
Dicotyledonous Herbs other than Composites
Habitat
Generally in damp rich soil. Farmland, fence rows, thickets, stockyards, waste places and roadsides.
Features
Stems 0.6 to 2 m tall, slightly branched at the top, slender, rigid, square, and covered with numerous stinging hairs. Leaves dark green, coarse, opposite (7.5 to 15 cm long) pointed with saw tooth margins, sometimes rounded at the base, covered with stinging hairs. Male and female flowers borne separately but on the same plant, in axillary clusters.
Flower Colours
White
Year Naturalised
1870
Origin
N. temperate regions
Life Cycle Comments
Perennial
Reproduction
Seeds and underground rootstocks.
Seed
Seed pod 1-seeded. Seeds small, egg-shaped, slightly rough, yellow to greyish-tan.
This page last updated on 18 Jan 2010