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Stinging Nettle

Urtica dioica

Photo by Dan Doucette
Published on Project Noah
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43.1594, -79.2469

Field Notes

Description:

The plant has many hollow stinging hairs called trichomes on its leaves and stems, which act like hypodermic needles that inject histamine and other chemicals that produce a stinging sensation when contacted by humans and other animals.
Stinging nettle is a dioecious herbaceous perennial, 1 to 2 m (3 to 7 ft) tall in the summer and dying down to the ground in winter.

Habitat:

Temperate forest, native to Europe, Asia, northern Africa, and North America

Notes:

I brushed up against this stinging nettle while I was trying to photograph a mushroom. It definitely stings!

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (2)

Thanks! Yeah, exactly, eh! They don't look like they could do any damage.
Nice shots of those little trichomes... man do those things hurt!! It's amazing how innocuous they look, they don't even seem like they could penetrate skin.

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