Urtica cannabina

• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Family Urticaceae

Herbs, subshrubs , or shrubs , rarely trees , very rarely climbing , stems often fibrous , sometimes succulent. sometimes armed with stinging hairs ; epidermal cells of leaves, sometimes stems, perianths mostly with prominent cystoliths punctiform to linear ; Leaves alternate or opposite, stipules present, rarely absent; leaf blade simple . Inflorescences cymose , paniculate , racemose, spicate , or cluster-capitate, usually formed from glomerules , sometimes crowded on common enlarged cuplike or discoid receptacle, rarely reduced into a single flower. Flowers unisexual (plants monoecious or dioecious), rarely bisexual in partial flowers; actinomorphic , very small, (1-) 4- or 5-merous, rarely perianth absent in female flowers. Calyx absent. Perianth lobes imbricate or valvate . Male flowers: stamens as many as and opposite to perianth lobes, filaments inflexed in bud; anthers 2-locular, opening lengthwise, rudimentary ovary often present. Female flowers: perianth lobes free or connate , usually enlarged in fruit and persistent , occasionally absent; staminodes scarious , opposite to the perianth lobes, or absent. Ovary rudimentary in male flowers, sessile or shortly stipitate , free or adnate to the perianth; 1-locular, ovule solitary, erect from the base ; style simple, or absent; stigma diverse , capitate, penicillate-capitate (brushlike), subulate , filiform , ligulate , or peltate. Fruit usually a dry achene, sometimes a fleshy drupe, often enclosed by the persistent perianth. Seed solitary, endosperm usually present; embryo straight; cotyledons ovate elliptical or orbicular .

About 47 genera and 1300 species: most numerous in wet tropical regions , extending into temperate regions ; 25 genera and 341 species (163 endemic, one introduced ) in China.

Plants in this family have numerous uses. The stem fiber of some genera and species is of high quality and used to make cloth, fishing nets , and ropes and for some industrial materials . In central and southern China,

Boehmeria nivea is widely cultivated for ramie fiber and Girardinia diversifolia subsp. triloba is widely cultivated for  red huo ma  fiber. Boiled young shoots of Girardinia, Laportea, and Urtica are eaten as vegetables. Some species are used in local Chinese medicine. Pellionia repens, Pilea cadierei, P. microphylla, and P. peperomioides, among other species, are widely cultivated as ornamentals in China and elsewhere. Some genera, such as Elatostema, Pellionia, and Pilea, occur frequently in shady, moist habitats of subtropical forests and become dominant elements of the forest floor vegetation. Plants of the first five genera belong to tribe Urticeae, which is usually characterized by the distinctive stinging hairs.[1]

Genus Urtica

Herbs, annual or perennial , with stinging and nonstinging hairs on same plant. Stems simple or branched, erect , ascending , or sprawling . Leaves opposite; stipules present. Leaf blades elliptic , lanceolate, ovate , or orbiculate, margins dentate to serrate; cystoliths rounded or ± elongate . Inflorescences axillary , lax , of cymes arranged in racemes or panicles. Flowers unisexual , staminate and pistillate flowers in loose to tight clusters in separate inflorescences or intermixed in same inflorescence on same or different plants ; bracts narrowly triangular to lanceolate, lacking hooked hairs. Staminate flowers : tepals 4, distinct , equal; stamens 4; pistillode cuplike. Pistillate flowers: tepals 4, distinct, inner 2 equal to achene, outer 2 smaller, without hooked hairs; staminodes absent; style absent; stigma tufted , persistent or deciduous. Achenes sessile, laterally compressed , ovoid or deltoid, loosely enclosed by inner tepals. x = 12, 13.

Species 45: nearly worldwide.[2]

Taxonomy

Similar Species

Members of the genus Urtica

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 18 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

U. angustifolia (Narrow-Leaved Nettles) · U. ballotifolia (Nettle) · U. cannabina (Hemp Nettle) · U. chamaedryoides (Heartleaf Nettle) · U. dioica (California Nettle) · U. dioica dioica (California Nettle) · U. dioica holoserica (California Nettle) · U. dioica holosericea (California Nettle) · U. dioica subsp. gracilis (California Nettle) · U. dioica subsp. holosericea (Hoary Stinging Nettle) · U. ferox (Nettle Tree) · U. galeopsifolia (Narrow-Leaved Nettle) · U. gracilenta (Mountain Nettle) · U. hyperborea (Himalayan Nettle) · U. incisa (Scrub Nettle) · U. moluccana (Hawai'i Lopleaf) · U. pilulifera (Roman Nettle) · U. urens (Burning Nettle)

More Info

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Further Reading

• A general system of botany, descriptive and analytical in two parts; tr. from the original by Mrs. Hooker. .. with additions, an appendix on the natural method, and a synopsis of the orders by J.D. Hooker. London, Longmans, 1876. url p. 669.
• A handbook of systematic botany; with a revision of the fungi, by E. Knoblauch; tr. and ed. by M.C. Potter. London, Swan[1904] url p. 353.
• A manual of botany: being an introduction to the study of the structure, physiology, and classification of plants. By John Hutton Balfour. London: J. J. Griffin [etc.] 1851. url p. 497.
• A manual of scientific terms, pronouncing, etymological, and explanatory, chiefly comprising terms in botany, natural history, anatomy, medicine, and veterinary science, with an appendix of specific names. Designed for the use of by Rev. James Stormonth Edinburgh, Maclachlan and Stewart, 1885 url p. 432.
• A text-book of botany, by Dr. Eduard Strasburger. .. Dr. Heinrich Schenck, Ludwig Jost [and] Dr. George Karsten. LondonMacmillan1912 url p. 558.
• A text-book of botany, by Eduard Strasburger. .. Dr. Heinrich Schenck. .. Dr. Fritz Noll. .. [and] Dr. George Karsten. London, Macmillan and co., limited, 1908. url p. 566.
• Applied and economic botany for students in technical and agricultural schools, pharmaceutical and medical colleges, for chemists, food analysts and for the those engaged in the morphological and physiological study of plants. New York, Wiley[1916] url p. 517.
• Applied and economic botany, especially adapted for the use of students in technical schools, agricultural, pharmaceutical and medical colleges, and also as a book of reference for chemists, food analysts and students engaged in by Henry Kraemer. .. illustrated with 424 plates, comprising about 2000 figures. Philadelphia, The author[c1914] url p. 517, p. 517.
• Bulletin of miscellaneous information /Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 1922 London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1900-1941. url p. 17.
• Elements of practical agriculture; comprehending the cultivation of plants, the husbandry of the domestic animals, and the economy of the farm. London: Longman, [etc., etc.], 1838. url p. 347.
• Flora hibernica, comprising the flowering plants, ferns, Characeæ, Musci, Hepaticæ, Lichenes and Algæ of Ireland, arranged according to the natural system with a synopsis of the genera according to the Linnæan system, by James Townsend Mackay. Dublin, Simpkin, Marshall and co.; [etc., etc.]1836. url p. 233.
• Flora hibernica: comprising the flowering plants, ferns, Characeæ, Musci, Hepaticæ, Lichenes and Algæ of Ireland: arranged according to the natural system with a synopsis of the genera according to the Linnæan system by James Townsend Mackay. Dublin: W. Curry jun., 1836. url p. 233.
• Flora of the U.S.S.R. [Springfield, Va.: Israel Program for Scientific Translations; 1968- url p. 305, p. 308.
• Hooker's journal of botany and Kew Garden miscellany. 4 1852 London: Reeve, Benham, and Reeve, 1849-1857. url p. 222, p. 26.
• Journal of botany, British and foreign. 12 1874 London: Robert Hardwicke, 1863-1942. url p. 262.
• Loudon's encyclopaedia of plants; comprising the specific character, description, culture, history, application in the arts, and every other desirable particular respecting all the plants indigenous to, cultivated in, or introduced in Edited by Mrs. Loudon, assisted by George Don and David Wooster. London, Longmans, Green, 1866. url p. 1083.
• Memoirs of the Torrey Botanical Club. 9 1900 Durham, N.C.: Published for the Club by the Seeman Printery, 1889- url p. 181, p. 282.
• Strasburger's Text-book of botany. Rewritten by Dr. Hans Fitting. .. Dr. Ludwig Jost. .. Dr. Heinrich Schenck. .. Dr. George Karsten. London, Macmillan, 1921. url p. 619.
• The British flora: comprising the phaenogamous, or flowering plants and the ferns / by Sir William Jackson Hooker. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1838- url p. 345.
• The Journal of the Linnean Society. Botany. 26 1889-90 London: the Society: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green: ||Williams and Norgate, 1865-1968. url p. 471.
• The fibrous plants of India, fitted for cordage, clothing, and paper. With an account of the cultivation and preparation of flax, hemp, and their substitutes. London, Smith, Elder, and Co.;1855. url .
• The standard cyclopedia of horticulture; a discussion, for the amateur, and the professional and commercial grower, of the kinds, characteristics and methods of cultivation of the species of plants grown in the regions of the United States a Illustrated with colored plates, four thousand engravings in the text, and ninety-six full-page cuts. New York, Macmillan, 1919 [c1914] url p. 26, p. 3638.
• The theory and practice of horticulture; or, An attempt to explain the chief operations of gardening upon physiological grounds. London, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855. url .
• The tropical agriculturist. Colombo, Ceylon: A.M. & J. Ferguson, 1882- url p. 371.
• The vegetable kingdom: or, The structure, classification, and uses of plants, illustrated upon the natural system / by John Lindley. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1846. url p. 830.
• The vegetable kingdom; or, The structure, classification, and uses of plants, LondonBradbury & Evans1853 url p. 830.
• The vegetation of the Siberian-Mongolian frontiers (the Sayansk region) [Trondhjem]K. Norske Videnskabers Selskab[1921] url , .
• Torreya. Burlington, Vt., Torrey Botanical Club, 1901-1945. url p. 102, p. 11, p. 119, p. 183.
• Chen Chiajui & Wang Wentsai. 1995. Urticaceae. In: Wang Wentsai & Chen Chiajui, eds., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 23(2): 1404.
• Woodland, D. W., I. J. Bassett, and C. W. Crompton. 1976. The annual species of stinging nettle (Hesperocnide and Urtica) in North America. Canad. J. Bot. 54: 374-383.
• Woodland, D. W. 1982. Biosystematics of the perennial North American taxa of Urtica. II. Taxonomy. Syst. Bot. 7: 282-290.
• Woodland, D. W., I. J. Bassett, L. Crompton, and S. Forget. 1982. Biosystematics of the perennial North American taxa of Urtica. I. Chromosome number, hybridization, and palynology. Syst. Bot. 7: 269-281.

Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 15, 2012.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 18, 2007:

• The Swedish Museum of Natural History
• , Herbarium of Oskarshamn
• US National Plant Germplasm System, United States National Plant Germplasm System Collection

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 1673243
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15891020
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:857465-1
• International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 857465-1
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 899206

Footnotes

1. Jiarui Chen, Prof. Qi Lin, Ib Friis, C. Melanie Wilmot-Dear & Alex K. Monro "Urticaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 76. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. "Urtica". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.