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.
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. 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.
Solanum carolinense, the Carolina horsenettle, is not a true nettle, but a member of the Solanaceae, or nightshade family. It is a perennial herbaceous plant, native to the southeastern United States, though its range has expanded throughout much of temperate North America. The plant is an invasive in parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. The stem and undersides of larger leaf veins are covered with prickles.
Cnidoscolus stimulosus, the bull nettle, spurge nettle, stinging nettle, tread-softly or finger rot, is a perennial herb covered with stinging hairs, native to southeastern North America. A member of the family Euphorbiaceae, it is not a true nettle. It prefers sandy, well-drained soil and mostly exists in pine/blackjack oak forests on sandhills, rims of Carolina bays, dunes, dry pastures, fields and roadsides.
Urtica ferox, commonly known as tree nettle and, in Māori, ongaonga, taraonga, taraongaonga, оr okaoka, is a species of nettle endemic to New Zealand. Unlike the other species in the genus Urtica found in New Zealand, all of which are herbaceous, ongaonga is a large woody shrub that can grow to a height of 3 m (9.8 ft), with the base of the stem reaching 12 cm (4.7 in) in thickness. It has large spines that can result in a painful sting that lasts several days.
Banksia grossa is a species of shrub in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to Southwest Australia. It is one of fourteen species of banksia of the series Abietinae, all of which bear predominantly cylindrical or oval inflorescences. Collected in 1965, it was first formally described in 1981 by Alex George. Its thick leaves and large seeds distinguish it from other members of the Abietinae, and are the basis of its species name.
Dendrocnide moroides, commonly known in Australia as the stinging tree, stinging bush, or gympie-gympie, is a plant in the nettle family Urticaceae found in rainforest areas of Malesia 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.
Urera is a genus of flowering plants in the nettle family, Urticaceae. It has a pantropical distribution.
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.
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.
Galeopsis bifida is an annual plant native to Europe and Asia but now found in Canada and the northeastern, midwestern parts of the United States. It has many common names such as bifid hemp-nettle, split-lip hemp-nettle, common hemp-nettle, and large-flowered hemp-nettle. The genus name means weasel-like, referring to the corolla of the flower. It is often confused with other species of Lamiaceae such as Mentha arvensis, Dracocephalum parviflorum and Stachys pilosa.
Cnidoscolus texanus, commonly known as Texas bullnettle, tread-softly, mala mujer, and finger rot, is a perennial herb covered with stinging hairs. The main stem, branches, leaves, and seed pods are all covered with hispid or glass-like bristly hairs that release an allergenic toxin upon contact. Contact with the plant results in intense pain: stinging, burning, and itching lasting for hours. It is native to the U.S. states of Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma and also native to the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is a herbaceous flowering plant that grows between 30–80 cm (11.8–31.5 in) tall and as much as 1 m (3.3 ft) across. Texas bullnettle has showy, fragrant white flowers that can bloom throughout the year in southern regions of its distribution, predominantly March to November in northern regions. It is a drought-tolerant plant, therefore making it a superb choice for xeriscaping. This plant is attractive to birds, bees, butterflies, and other insects. The seeds are known to be consumed by Rio Grande wild turkeys and mourning doves.
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.
Cnidoscolus urens is a perennial, tropical American stinging herb of the family Euphorbiaceae, and is one of some 100 species belonging to the genus Cnidoscolus. The plant is locally known as bull nettle, spurge nettle, bringamosa and mala mujer.
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.
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 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.
Tragia involucrata, the Indian stinging nettle, is a species of plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is the most used species of Tragia in ethnomedicinal and ethnopharmacological applications.
Spring greens, or spring vegetables, are the edible young leaves or new plant growth of a large number of plants that are most fit for consumption when their newest growth happens in the spring. Many leaf vegetables become less edible as they age and bitter, or potentially even toxic, compounds start to form. Harvesting of spring vegetables is common across Native American cultures.
Dendrocnide cordifolia, commonly known as the stinging tree, is a plant in the nettle family Urticaceae endemic to the Atherton Tablelands, southwest 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.
