Laportea canadensis

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Laportea canadensis
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Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Urticaceae
Genus: Laportea
Species:
L. canadensis
Binomial name
Laportea canadensis
Synonyms [2]
  • Laportea canadensis (L.) Gaudich.
  • Laportea divaricata (L.) Lunell
  • Laportea pustulata (Liebm.) Wedd.
  • Urtica canadensis L.
  • Urtica divaricata L.
  • Urtica pustulata Liebm.
  • Urticastrum divaricatum (L.) Kuntze

Laportea canadensis, commonly called Canada nettle [3] 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. [4]

Contents

Description

Laportea canadensis grows from tuberous roots to a height of 30 to 150 centimeters, and can be rhizomatous, growing into small clumps. Plants have both stinging and non-stinging hairs on the foliage and the stems. It has whitish green flowers, produced from spring to early fall. Unlike its cousin, the common nettle, Laportea canadensis has alternate leaves. The bulk of its foliage also grows notably high on the stem.

Sting

When the stinging nettles come in contact with the skin, the unlucky individual is dealt a painful burning stinging sensation, sometimes with barbs left in the skin. The skin can turn red and blister, and blisters can last for several days.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urticaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

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, māmaki, and ajlai.

<i>Urtica dioica</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Urticaceae

Urtica dioica, often known as common nettle, burn nettle, stinging nettle or nettle leaf, or just a nettle or stinger, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Urticaceae. Originally native to Europe, much of temperate Asia and western North Africa, it is now found worldwide, including New Zealand and North America. The species is divided into six subspecies, five of which have many hollow stinging hairs called trichomes on the leaves and stems, which act like hypodermic needles, injecting histamine and other chemicals that produce a stinging sensation upon contact.

<i>Urtica</i> Genus of flowering plants

Urtica is a genus of flowering plants in the family Urticaceae. Many species have stinging hairs and may be called nettles or stinging nettles, although the latter name applies particularly to Urtica dioica.

<i>Lamium</i> Genus of flowering plants

Lamium (dead-nettles) is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae, of which it is the type genus. They are all herbaceous plants native to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa, but several have become very successful weeds of crop fields and are now widely naturalised across much of the temperate world.

<i>Sanguinaria</i> Genus of flowering plants in the poppy family Papaveraceae

Sanguinaria canadensis, bloodroot, is a perennial, herbaceous flowering plant native to eastern North America. It is the only species in the genus Sanguinaria, included in the poppy family Papaveraceae, and is most closely related to Eomecon of eastern Asia.

<i>Rumex obtusifolius</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Polygonaceae

Rumex obtusifolius, commonly known as bitter dock, broad-leaved dock, bluntleaf dock, dock leaf or butter dock, is a perennial plant in the family Polygonaceae. It is native to Europe, but is found on all temperate continents. It is a highly invasive species in some zones, resulting from its abundant seed dispersal, adaptability to reproduce, aggressive roots, ability to tolerate extreme climates, and hardiness.

<i>Sambucus canadensis</i> Species of plant

Sambucus canadensis, the American black elderberry, Canada elderberry, or common elderberry, is a species of elderberry native to a large area of North America east of the Rocky Mountains, south to Bolivia. It grows in a variety of conditions including both wet and dry soils, primarily in sunny locations.

<i>Dendrocnide moroides</i> Species of plant in the family Urticaceae

Dendrocnide moroides, commonly known in Australia as the stinging tree, stinging bush, Queensland Stinger or gympie-gympie, is a plant in the nettle family Urticaceae found in rainforest areas of Malaysia and Australia. It is notorious for its extremely painful and long-lasting sting. The common name gympie-gympie comes from the language of the Indigenous Gubbi Gubbi people of south-eastern Queensland.

<i>Pilea pumila</i> Species of flowering plant

Pilea pumila, commonly known as clearweed, Canadian clearweed, coolwort or richweed, is an herbaceous plant in the nettle family (Urticaceae). It is native to Asia and eastern North America, where it is broadly distributed.

<i>Urtica urens</i> Species of flowering plant in the nettle family Urticaceae

Urtica urens, commonly known as annual nettle, dwarf nettle, small nettle, dog nettle, or burning nettle, is a herbaceous annual flowering plant species in the nettle family Urticaceae. 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. It is reputed to sting more strongly than common nettle.

<i>Urera</i> Genus of flowering plants

Urera is a genus of flowering plants in the nettle family, Urticaceae. It has a pantropical distribution.

<i>Laportea</i> Genus of flowering plants

Laportea is a genus of plants in the family Urticaceae. They are herbaceous, either annual or perennial. Like many plants of the Urticaceae, they have stinging hairs. There are stinging and non-stinging hairs on the same plant. The genus was named after the French naturalist Francis de Laporte de Castelnau.

<i>Lactuca canadensis</i> Species of lettuce

Lactuca canadensis is a species of wild lettuce known by the common names Canada lettuce, Canada wild lettuce, tall lettuce, and Florida blue lettuce. Its true native range is not clear, but it is considered to be a native of the eastern and central parts of North America. It naturalized in the western part of the continent as well as in Eurasia.

<i>Laportea aestuans</i> Species of flowering plant

Laportea aestuans, the West Indian woodnettle, is an annual herb of the Urticaceae or nettle family.

<i>Polygonia comma</i> Species of butterfly

Polygonia comma, the eastern comma, is a North American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae, subfamily Nymphalinae.

<i>Dendrocnide sinuata</i> Species of flowering plant

Dendrocnide sinuata is a poisonous plant called pulutus', pulus, stinging tree, fever nettle, or elephant nettle, growing in subtropical wet evergreen forests throughout Asia. Some of its uses in herbal medicine have been scientifically validated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinging plant</span> Plant with hairs (trichomes) on its leaves or stems

A stinging plant or a plant with stinging hairs is a plant with hairs (trichomes) on its leaves or stems that are capable of injecting substances that cause pain or irritation.

<i>Laportea grossa</i> Species of flowering plant

Laportea grossa, or spotted nettle, is an African plant in the family Urticaceae, and one of 31 species in the genus. This species occurs in shady places in coastal and escarpment forests, closed woodland and on streambanks from George through the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal to southern Mozambique. Young leaves of this species are cooked and eaten as a vegetable.

<i>Dendrocnide cordifolia</i> Species of plant in the family Urticaceae

Dendrocnide cordifolia, commonly known as the stinging tree, is a plant in the nettle family Urticaceae endemic to the Atherton Tablelands, south west of Cairns, Queensland. Contact with the plant results in a painful sting, however the intensity and duration of the pain from this plant is extreme.

References

  1. "NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org.
  2. "The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species".
  3. "Canadian Poisonous Plants Information System" . Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  4. David E. Boufford. "Urticaceae". Flora of North America.