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Stinging Nettle

Stinging Nettle

Urtica dioica

Identify the Stinging Nettle from a photo and log your finds with Florapass.

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How common: Very common

Stinging nettle is a tall, perennial plant known for its painful stinging hairs. It thrives in nutrient‑rich places disturbed by people. You can often see it in gardens, yards, field edges, roadsides and along rivers across much of the temperate world.

Did you know?

  • Its sting comes from brittle hairs that break and inject an irritating liquid when touched.
  • Caterpillars of several butterflies, such as the peacock and the red admiral, feed on its leaves.

About the species

Identification

Usually 30–200 cm tall, with a straight, mostly unbranched, square stem. Leaves dark green, in pairs along the stem, up to about 15 cm long, long‑tipped with coarse teeth. Stinging hairs cover leaves and stem. From the leaf joints hang long, thin, green flower clusters; the tiny flowers are green and male and female grow on separate plants. Later it bears tiny pale, flat, seed‑like fruits. Look‑alikes: white dead‑nettle does not sting and has big white flowers; small nettle is shorter with rounder leaves. Kukkii Suomessa heinä–syyskuussa.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

herb-rich forest

Flowering

Jul–Sep

About the habitat

Grows on rich, disturbed soils near people: yards, gardens, compost heaps, field margins, roadsides, riverbanks and moist, fertile woodland. Often where the soil is high in nutrients. Yleinen lähes koko maassa; harvinainen aivan pohjoisimmassa Lapissa. Pohjannokkosen alalaji esiintyy pääasiassa Pohjanmaalla ja Pohjois-Suomessa.

Sources

Photo: Dominicus Johannes Bergsma, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brandnetel, Urtica dioica, Locatie, Famberhorst.jpg

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki leviäimet, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37984

Text: Pinkka: Verso- ja leviäintunnistus - Kaikki versot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37984

Text: Pinkka: Yläkoulun Pinkka - Kulttuuriympäristöt, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37984

Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Kulttuuriympäristöt: niityt, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37984

Text: Pinkka: Kasvitieteen retkeily Ahvenanmaalle - Nåtö ja Västerskog, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37984

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokkonen

See also