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Wood nettle

Laportea canadensis

Summary 3

Laportea canadensis, commonly called Canada nettle or wood-nettle, is an annual or perennial herbaceous plant of the nettle family Urticaceae, native to eastern and central North America. It is found growing in open woods with moist rich soils and along streams and in drainages.

Barcode data: laportea canadensis 4

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.


Comments 5

This native plant is often mistaken for the introduced Urtica dioica (Stinging Nettle). Both species have stinging hairs and a similar appearance. However, the Wood Nettle has some alternate leaves, while Stinging Nettle has pairs of opposite leaves only. There are also differences in the characteristics of their flowers. Another similar species, Boehmeria cylindrica (False Nettle), also has opposite leaves, but it lacks stinging hairs altogether. Like other members of the Nettle family, the Wood Nettle lacks showy flowers because they are wind-pollinated, rather than pollinated by insects. Some people may regard this species as an undesirable woodland weed because of its stinging hairs and unassuming appearance, but it is an important host plant of some native butterflies.

Description 6

This herbaceous perennial plant is about 2-4' tall and either branched or unbranched. The stems are light to medium green and abundantly covered with stiff white hairs that have the capacity to sting when they are rubbed against. The lower to middle leaves are alternate, while the upper leaves are opposite. These leaves are up to 6" long and 4" across; they are medium to dark green, ovate-cordate to oval-ovate in shape, and coarsely serrated or serrated-crenate. Young leaves are densely hairy and wrinkled in appearance, while older leaves become less hairy and wrinkled with age. Leaf venation is pinnate. The petioles are up to 4" long and abundantly covered with stinging hairs, like the stems. The leaves may have a few stinging hairs as well, particularly along the central veins of their undersides. Some plants have a tendency to loose many of their stinging hairs as the season progresses. Individual plants are either monoecious (separate male and female flowers on the same plant) or unisexual. The male flowers occur in branching cymes from the axils of the leaves. These cymes spread outward from the stem and they are about the same length as the petioles of the leaves. Each male flower is greenish white to white and less than 1/8" (3 mm.) across, consisting of 5 narrow sepals, 5 stamens, and no petals. The female flowers occur in branching cymes toward the apex of the plant. These cymes are erect to spreading and 4" or more in length. Each female flower is more or less green and about 1/8" (3 mm.) across, consisting of 4 sepals of unequal size (2 large and 2 small) and an ovary with a long style. The blooming period usually occurs during mid- to late summer. The flowers are wind-pollinated. Each female flower is replaced by a small dry fruit that is curved and ovoid in shape. This plant often forms colonies of variable size.

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) BlueRidgeKitties, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/blueridgekitties/6041467401/
  2. (c) Jason Hollinger, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/7147684@N03/1026204623
  3. Adapted by Jonathan (JC) Carpenter from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laportea_canadensis
  4. (c) Barcode of Life Data Systems, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/30713404
  5. (c) John Hilty, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/29445384
  6. (c) John Hilty, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/29445381

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