How do you recognise Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica)?

Leaf

Maksym Kozlenko, Wikimedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Stinging nettle

Urtica dioica L.

Also known as: Common nettle, Nettle

Family: Urticaceae

60 cm to 1.5 m

Waste ground, rubble, nitrogen-rich soils

Flowering: June – September

Full sun

Part shade

Very hardy, to -20°C

❓ How do you recognise this plant?

The stinging hairs inject formic acid at the slightest touch — recognisable without even seeing it. Red dead-nettle mimics the silhouette of the nettle (hence its French name of "false nettle") but its leaves are soft to the touch, without stinging hairs, and its pink gaping flowers easily distinguish it.

🍃 Leaves

Opposite, heart-shaped, saw-toothed, covered in stinging hairs

🌸 Flowers

Tiny, greenish, in long pendent clusters

🍎 Fruits

Numerous tiny achenes

🪵 Bark

Square herbaceous stem, covered in stinging hairs

🗺️ Distribution

Europe, Asia, North Africa; very common in France near dwellings and on nitrogen-rich soils

🐝 Value for pollinators

Wind-pollinated, but foliage is an essential host for the caterpillars of many butterflies (peacock, red admiral)

✂️ Horticultural uses

Tolerated in a wild corner of the garden for biodiversity, used to make a fertilising liquid feed

⚠️ Possible toxicity

Stinging hairs causing itching and redness of the skin on contact; harmless once cooked

⚠️ Look-alike species

Stinging nettle

Urtica dioica

Red dead-nettle

Lamium purpureum

Red dead-nettle mimics the silhouette of the nettle (hence its French name of "false nettle") but its leaves are soft to the touch, without stinging hairs, and its pink gaping flowers easily distinguish it.

ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.

🌱 This database is constantly evolving — species and information are added and corrected regularly. Spotted a mistake? Report it below.