Urtica cannabina L.

Herbs perennial, monoecious. Rhizomes woody. Stems branched, 50-150 cm tall, sparsely hirtellous, sparsely armed with stinging hairs. Stipules free, linear, 5-15 mm, puberulent on both surfaces; petiole 2-8 cm, puberulent, with stinging hairs; leaf blade 5-angled in outline, 7-15 × 3.5-10 cm, abaxial surface puberulent and sparsely armed stinging hairs on veins, adaxial surface sparsely setulose, then glabrescent, margin 3-palmatisect or parmatipartite, primary lobes pinnatisect, gradually shortened distally, secondary lobes irregularly incised-serrate or shallowly serrate; cystoliths punctiform, densely adaxially. Inflorescences unisexual; male inflorescences in proximal axils, paniculate, 5-8 cm; female ones in distal axils, spicate, 2-7 cm, often erect, with a thick axis and few branches in proximal part. Male flowers short pedicellate or sessile, in bud 1.2-1.5 mm; perianth lobes connate 1/2 of length, ovate, puberulent. Female flowers: perianth lobes connate at basal 1/3, herbaceous, dorsal-ventral lobes elliptic-ovate, 2-4 mm, setulose and with 1-4 stinging hairs, lateral lobes ovate or oblong-ovate, 3-4 times as short as dorsal ones, often with single stinging hair. Achene gray-brownish, ovoid, slightly compressed, 2-3 mm, apex acute, verrucose, invested by persistent perianth lobes. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug-Oct.

Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, N and W Sichuan, Xinjiang [Mongolia, Russia (Siberia); C and SW Asia, Europe].

Thickets, grasslands, sand dunes, sandy beaches, river banks, roadsides, near villages, weed-infested places; 800-2800 m.

Urtica cannabina f. angustiloba Chu.