Nettles
Nettle Family - Urticaceae
Common Nettle Urtica dioicaNative throughout Eurasia and widely introduced elsewhere. Tiny flowers carried in abundance in branching spikes, hanging from the upper leaf axils; male and female on separate plants. A vigorous species of waste and formerly disturbed ground, roadsides and shady places, often forming extensive, dominant patches where soil enrichment (such as from agricultural run-off) has occurred.
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Small Nettle Urtica urens
Much smaller than Common Nettle, being a short annual of recently or regularly disturbed ground such as arable margins and allotments. Flowers mostly July and August but can be found throughout much of the year. Differs from Common Nettle in its smaller size, smaller, tighter flower clusters and more rounded, less triangular leaf shape.
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Membraneous Nettle Urtica membranacea
Native to macaronesia and the Mediterranean Region. An annual species; male and female flowers on the same plant, the male flowers higher up and in longer, one-sided clusters on flattened stems. The stems bear only two stipules at each node (four in other nettles).
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Roman Nettle Urtica pilulifera
Native to the Mediterranean Region, eastwards to the Arabian Peninsula and Pakistan. Differs from other nettles in its flowers and fruits which are clustered into tight, rounded balls.
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Pellitory-of-the-wall Parietaria judaica
native from Macaronesia and most of Europe, eastwards through the Mediterranean region to Central Asia and the Himalayan Region. A rather scruffy plant, compact at first, becoming taller as the flowering shoots grow; glossy leaves have well-marked, indented veins. Stems and leaf petioles reddish. Flowers tiny, in small clusters in the leaf axils.
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