''Laportea grossa'', or spotted nettle, is an African plant in the family

Urticaceae The Urticaceae are a family, the nettle family, of flowering plants. The family name comes from the genus ''Urtica''. The Urticaceae include a number of well-known and useful plants, including nettles in the genus ''Urtica'', ramie (''Boehmeri ...

, and one of 31 species in the genus. This species occurs in shady places in coastal and escarpment forests, closed woodland and on streambanks from

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

through the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

to southern

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

. Young leaves of this species are cooked and eaten as a vegetable. It has decorative leaves marked by conspicuous white spots and is covered in stinging hairs. It is a sprawling, herbaceous perennial or annual, growing to about 1 m tall. Its soft, erect stems armed with stinging hairs have a tendency to root at the nodes, and are therefore readily propagated from cuttings. Leaves are alternate, triangular, coarsely toothed, and also covered in stinging hairs. The white spots on the leaves are not always present, but when there a stinging hair is found at the centre of each white spot - the lower leaf surface and petiole are well-covered. The stinging hairs are carried on slender protuberances, and can inflict a painful, burning sting that may cause localised redness of the skin. ''Laportea grossa'' is monoecious, having male and female flowers on the same plant. Small greenish flowers grow in panicles in the leaf axils. Male flowers are some 2 mm in diameter, regular in shape, with 4-5 tepals and 5 stamens. Female flowers are 1.5 mm long, with 4 tepals of unequal size, and a white style protruding. They produce a small, dry seed, ± 1.7 mm long. Fruits, flowers and leaves of this species are eaten by the

Green Twinspot The green-backed twinspot or green twinspot (''Mandingoa nitidula'') is an estrildid finch found in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. The IUCN has classified the species as being of least concern. Subspecies The green-backed twinspot has four ...

Grey waxbill The grey waxbill or black-tailed waxbill (''Glaucestrilda perreini'') is a common species of estrildid finch found in wetter land of Southern Africa. It has an estimated global extent of occurrence of . There are two recognized subspecies: *''Gl ...

and

Common waxbill The common waxbill (''Estrilda astrild''), also known as the St Helena waxbill, is a small passerine bird belonging to the estrildid finch family. It is native to sub-Saharan Africa but has been introduced to many other regions of the world and n ...

. The genus was named after the French naturalist

François Louis de la Porte, comte de Castelnau François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, King ...

Gallery

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15612050

grossa Grossa (; co, A Grossa) is a commune in the Corse-du-Sud department of France on the island of Corsica. Population See also *Communes of the Corse-du-Sud department *Bizzicu Rossu Bizzicu Rossu is an archaeological site in Corsica. It i ...