Common Nettle - Urtica dioica

Alternative names
Stinging Nettle
Description

Medium to tall vigorous often patch forming plant, with stout stolons and square stems. Leaves opposite, heart shaped to lanceolate, toothed and armed with stinging hairs. Terminal leaf-tooth longer than the lateral ones. Male and female flowers, greenish on separate plants. Male in long drooping catkin like spikes, female in small clusters.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Almost anywhere.

When to see it

Flowering June to September.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Abundant throughout Britain.

VC55 Status

Abundant in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 607 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Nettle, Stinging Nettle, Common Nettle
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Rosales
Family:
Urticaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
1006
First record:
11/05/1992 (John Mousley;Steve Grover)
Last record:
03/03/2024 (Smith, Peter)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

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