Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Rosales > Urticaceae > Urtica > Urtica spatulata

Urtica spatulata (dwarf nettle; burning nettle)

Synonyms:

Attributes

Allergen Potential [1]  High
Edible [2]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [2]  Monoecious
Hazards [2]  The leaves of the plants have stinging hairs, causing irritation to the skin; This action is neutralized by heat so the cooked leaves are perfectly safe and nutritious; However, only young leaves should be used because older leaves develop gritty particles called cystoliths which act as an irritant to the kidneys;
Lifespan [2]  Annual
Pollinators [2]  Wind
Structure [4]  Herb
Usage [2]  A strong flax-like fibre is obtained from the stems; Used for string and cloth; It is harvested as the plant begins to die down in early autumn; An essential ingredient of 'QR' herbal compost activator; This liquid feed is both insect repellent and a good foliar feed; The growing plant increases the essential oil content of other nearby plants, thus making them more resistant to insect pests; A hair wash is made from the infused leaves and this is used as a tonic and antidandruff treatment; A green dye is obtained from the leaves and stems; A yellow dye is obtained from the root; An oil extracted from the seeds is used as an illuminant in lamps;
Height [2]  24 inches (0.6 m)
Light Preference [3]  Mostly Sunny
Soil Acidity [3]  Moderate Acid
Soil Fertility [3]  Rich
Soil Moisture [3]  Moist
View Plants For A Future Record : Urtica spatulata

Protected Areas

Ecosystems

Predators

External References

USDA Plant Profile

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Derived from Allergy-Free Gardening OPALS™, Thomas Leo Ogren (2000)
♦ 2Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 3ECOFACT 2a Technical Annex - Ellenberg’s indicator values for British Plants, M O Hill, J O Mountford, D B Roy & R G H Bunce (1999)
♦ 4Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935
♦ 5HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 6Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
♦ 7New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Plant-SyNZ™ database
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0