Swayback said:
If you notice I start my original response by saying there are many types of "stinging nettle", as far as I know, that's just a generic name that we use to group plants that sting with fine hairs, as opposed to thorns or spines...

I agree that there are many different "nettles", and that in some regions other species of Urtica that sting may be referred to as "stinging nettles" but the plant more generally associated with the common name "stinging nettle" is Urtica dioica. For example if you enter "stinging nettle" as a common name into the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) the only answer is Urtica dioica plus it's lower rank variants - this is at http://www.itis.gov/ but I can't get a direct link to the results. If you enter "stinging nettle" into Tropicos at http://www.tropicos.org/ you will get Urtica dioica. If you enter "stinging nettle" into the Catalog of Life you will get the following as the first result:
http://www.catalogueoflife.org...
which says "You selected Stinging Nettle. This is a common name for: Accepted scientific name: Urtica dioica (accepted name). If you go to the US Forest Service their page at http://www.fs.fed.us/database/... says "The currently accepted scientific name for stinging nettle is Urtica dioica L. (Urticaceae)." If you type "stinging nettle" into Wikipedia it will redirect to the page for Urtica dioica. I could go on

But anyway it may be moot depending on what the OP, Jane, meant by "stinging nettle".

If you type Stinging Nettle into the ATP Database Search you get Urtica dioica (probably the most common type), U.stimulosus, U. chamaedryoides and a few others with no photos as yet: http://garden.org/plants/searc...

I would think it is a regional thing - whatever your Urtica stinger is will likely be locally referred to as stinging nettle. Which is neither correct nor incorrect - a common name is a common name, and often subject to change from area to area. Yet another example of why botanical names are important.

Hi all, thanks for all your comments and advice. Definitely NOT stinging, thank goodness. Noticed a very feint scent now. I also noticed tiny little hairs on the stem. Whether a nettle or something else. Still not known. It is growing all by itself in a very dry area. I'll let it grow and see what it does. I let you know what develops in a month or so ....

Just thought I'd show a few pics of the nettle I described, the little urtica species that inhabit sunny dry fields here doesn't really hurt much... These guys on the other hand...wow!


I derailed this into a battle of the nettles, but I really think I might have lots of the plant in question, I just don't know it's name... Seems like a good time to find it out!


This picture shows both the nettle, and this other plant, growing side by side and looking nearly identical, nettles top and right, unknown plant is bottom left.

It could be False Nettle, Boehmeria cylindrica, http://www.wildflower.org/plan...
or American Germander, Teucrium canadense, http://www.wildflower.org/plan...

Looking at the photos from Swayback, not the False Nettle. I know my plant as "Smallspike False Nettle" as that is what the trader called it when she sent it to me; had help with the ID here:
http://garden.org/thread/view_...

I think sooby found mine, laportea, it's bad news!

Just to interject a bit of good news...
All my life I have always wondered what the heck 'Ramie' was when listed as the fiber content of cloth/fabric.

This thread had me searching various 'nettles' and I learned that Ramie is made from Boehmeria nivea.