Flowers and leaves. Photo: Don Wood, south coast, NSW

Flowers and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photo: Murray Fagg, Scottsdale Bush Heritage Reserve, near Brogo, NSW

Plants. Photo: John Tann, Dargo, Vic

Common Name

Stinging Nettle, Scrub Nettle, Native Nettle

Family

Urticaceae

Notes

Perennial forb to more than 1m tall, covered in stinging hairs. Leaves opposite each other, 2-10cm long, 15-60mm wide, flat, hairless between the stinging hairs, edges toothed. Male and female flowers on different plants or on the same plant. Flowers small (less than 3mm across), green, with 4 'petals', in loose spikes on stalks arising from the bases of the leaves, in mixed spikes with the male flowers below the female flowers, or the plants apparently with male and female flowers on different plants.

Differs from Urtica urens in that it is a perennial forb, the leaf blades are usually 5-12cm long, and the inflorescence is unbranched and often much longer than the leaf stalk.

Description and photo in G.M. Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and J H Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 210

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Urtica~incisa