Stinging Nettle

Urtica dioica L.

Urticaceae (Nettle Family)

▲ seedling

▲▼ young plants

 

 

▲▼ mature, flowering plants

▲▼ flowers

▲ colony of stinging nettle on farm in Wisconsin

Stinging Nettle:

·         creeping perennial with underground rhizomes; has opposite leaves with minute hairs which can “sting” when they contact skin; leaves light green

·         grows 2-5' tall, usually in colonies of unbranched slender, squarish stems, also with stinging hairs

·         found in moist, usually fertile soils, pastures, roadsides, along stream banks, non-crop areas

·         “sting” can be painful if a lot of contact with hairs is made to both livestock and humans