Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

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Urtica dioica

Common name

Stinging Nettle, Giant Nettle

Family

Urticaceae

Where found

Naturalised. Coastal north of Berry. Occasionally elsewhere.

Notes

Introduced perennial herb to 1.5 m high. Stems and leaves markedly hairy between the longer, scattered stinging hairs. Leaves opposite each other, mostly 3-12 cm long, 10-70 mm wide, both surfaces dark green, base squared off to cordate; margins broadly toothed to incised, hairy; tips pointed to tail-like. Male and female flowers on the same plant or on different plants. Flowers about 1 mm long and wide, male flowers with 4 'petals', female flowers apparently with 2 'petals'. Male and female flowers in the same cluster, or the the clusters unisexual. Flower clusters mostly mostly branched and longer than the leaf stalks.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Urtica~dioica (accessed 10 February, 2021)