Urtica Gracilis

''Urtica gracilis'', commonly known as the slender nettle, tall nettle, or American stinging nettle, is a perennial plant without woody stems that is well known for the unpleasant stinging hairs on its leaves and stems. It is native to much of the North America from Guatemala northwards and temperate areas of South America. It is easily confused with the visually very similar Eurasian species Urtica dioica and is still listed in some resources as a subspecies of this plant. However, genetic analysis and experiments show that they are genetically distinct.

Description

''Urtica gracilis'' is a perennial plant, one that regrows for many years, with stems that die back the ground in winter (herbaceous plant). It spreads both by wind borne seeds and by rhizomes, often forming dense stands in favorable conditions. Plants can be between 50 centimeters and 3 meters in height with stems that can be simple or branched. Stems will vary in between being smooth and covered in stiff hairs (glabrous to strigose), but have few of the stinging hairs the plant is known for.

The leaves of ''Urtica gracilis'' are variable, elliptic, lanceolate, or ovate, and 6–20 cm long by 2–13 cm across, with a base that can either be rounded or shaped like a heart ( rounded to cordate). The leaf edges have coarse teeth, sometimes with smaller teeth within each larger tooth (doubly serrate) and the ends are pointed. The underside of the leaves are covered in the stinging hairs that the species is so well known for, but the upper surface only rarely has a few stinging hairs and is more often smooth or covered in non-stinging fine hairs ( puberulent).

''Urtica gracilis'' has a flowering panicle, a much branched flowering stem with multiple flowers on sort stems. The flowers are unisexual, each one only having either female pistils or male stamens. Mostly plants will have both genders of flowers. The flowers are not large or showy.

Taxonomy

The first scientific description of ''Urtica gracilis'' was published by William Aiton in 1789. While this was accepted for a time the visual similarity caused botanical sources like George Neville Jones's 1945 ''Flora of Illinois'' to only list ''Urtica dioica''. In 2014 the paper "Weeding the Nettles II" was published in the journal ''Phytotaxa''. It showed the North American nettles to be a unified group that is genetically distinct
As of 2023 the major botanical source Plants of the World Online (POWO) lists ''Urtica gracilis'' as a valid species. However, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS database (PLANTS) continues to list it as the subspecies ''Urtica dioica'' ssp. ''gracilis'' credited to Sten Selander.

Subspecies

There are 5 recognized subspecies or varieties of ''Urtica gracilis'' according to POWO as of 2023. Four of them were formerly recognized at different times as other subspecies, varieties, or species.

Range

''Urtica gracilis'' is native to the Americas and is recorded by POWO as growing in most of North America including every state of Mexico, every province and territory of Canada except Nunavut, and all but four states, Hawaii, Florida, South Carolina, and Arkansas in America. In Central America it is only recorded as growing in Guatemala. In South America it limited to the more temperate areas in the countries of Peru, Chile, and Argentina.

Uses

Culinary

''Urtica gracillis'' has a flavor similar to spinach when cooked. Young plants were harvested by indigenous peoples of the Americas and used as a cooked plant in spring when other food plants were scarce.Gregory L. Tilford, ''Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West'', Soaking stinging nettles in water or cooking removes the stinging chemicals from the plant, which allows them to be handled and eaten without injury.

References

External links

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{{Taxonbar, from1=Q40034281, from2=Q16993348

gracilis
Flora of Northern America
Flora of Argentina
Flora of Chile
Flora of Guatemala
Flora of Peru
Plants described in 1789