Stinging Nettle

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