''Urtica urens'', commonly known as annual nettle, dwarf nettle, small nettle, dog nettle, or burning nettle, is a herbaceous annual

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

species in the nettle 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 (''Boehmer ...

. It is native to Eurasia, including the Himalayan regions of Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Sikkim in India and can be found in North America, New Zealand and South Africa as an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived the ...

. It is reputed to sting more strongly than common nettle.

Description

Unlike the

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

and

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproducti ...

stinging nettle ''Urtica dioica'', ''Urtica urens'' is an annual plant,

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy. Monoecy i ...

(with male and female flowers on the same plant) and generally much shorter. It can be distinguished from the stinging nettle by its more rounded leaves with coarser, deeper toothing and with the terminal tooth of similar length to the adjacent teeth. The lower leaves are shorter than their longer petioles and have stinging hairs only.

Distribution

The native distribution of ''Urtica urens'' includes most of Europe except the British Isles, northern Asia, north and north-west Africa. In the British Isles, ''Urtica urens'' is an archaeophyte, an ancient introduction. It has been introduced to all other continents of the world except Antarctica.

Organism interactions

In Europe, ''Urtica urens'' is one of the food plants of the

small tortoiseshell The small tortoiseshell (''Aglais urticae'') is a colourful Eurasian butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Adults feed on nectar and may hibernate over winter; in warmer climates they may have two broods in a season. While the dorsal surface of th ...

butterfly (''Aglais urticae''). In New Zealand it is also a food plant for the

New Zealand red admiral The New Zealand red admiral (''Vanessa gonerilla'') is a butterfly endemic to New Zealand. Its Māori name is ''kahukura,'' which means "red cloak". The red admiral is a member of the family Nymphalidae, the subfamily Nymphalinae and the tribe N ...

butterfly (''Bassaris gonerilla'', syn. ''Vanessa gonerilla'', syn. ''Papilio gonerilla''), and the Australian / New Zealand

yellow admiral The yellow admiral or Australian admiral (''Vanessa itea'') is a butterfly native to Australia, New Zealand, Lord Howe Island, and Norfolk Islands. The Māori name is , which means "yellow cloak". The yellow admiral is a member of the family ...

butterfly (''Vanessa itea'').

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
urens Flora of Europe Flora of temperate Asia Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Urticaceae-stub