Stinging Nettle

Urtica gracilis

Hosts 3 caterpillarsSpecialist hostPollinator plantNitrogen fixer

Growing it

When	Flowers June to August; fruits August to September
Type	herb
Sun	Full sun, partial shade
Water	High, medium
Soil	pH 5.5–7.5
Hardiness	zone 2–8
Mature height	1.5 m
Mature spread	0.75 m
Spacing	0.5 m
Years to maturity	2
Bloom	Jun–Aug
In bloom	June July August
Fruit	Aug–Sep
Native to	AB, SK

egg-shaped leaves about 12 cm long in opposite pairs

Where it has been recorded

BothSpecimensObservations

332 squares of about 28 km, each holding at least one record. A square is not a claim that the plant grows throughout it, and an unshaded square is unrecorded rather than empty. Darker squares hold more records, which follows roads and towns as much as it follows the plant. 51 herbarium specimens and 902 field observations this project may redraw. A filled dot is a pressed sheet somebody can re-examine; a hollow ring is a photograph identified by community agreement. Where the dots are dense is where people have looked, not where the plant is commonest, and empty ground is unsurveyed rather than unoccupied. How this map is made.

Which ecoregions the records fall in

Aspen Parkland central AB / SK: 568 records, high confidence
Moist Mixed Grassland south AB / SK: 141 records, high confidence
Boreal Transition central AB / SK: 128 records, high confidence
Mid-Boreal Uplands central AB / SK: 109 records, high confidence
Northern Continental Divide south AB: 106 records, high confidence
Fescue Grassland south AB: 97 records, high confidence
Mixed Grassland south AB / SK: 74 records, high confidence
Cypress Upland south AB / SK: 64 records, high confidence
Western Alberta Upland central AB: 60 records, high confidence
Peace Lowland north AB: 23 records, high confidence
Wabasca Lowland north AB: 10 records, medium confidence
Eastern Continental Ranges central AB: 9 records, medium confidence
Slave River Lowland north AB: 9 records, medium confidence
Hay River Lowland north AB: 3 records, low confidence

These are counts of records collected somewhere in the region, which is the resolution of the evidence: the map above shows where inside it. A region with 3 records is not the same claim as one with three hundred, so the count travels with the region. A region missing from this list means nobody has recorded it there, which is not the same as the plant being absent. Records within 900 m of a border count for neither side, because the border is not drawn finely enough to say which one they are on. Source: GBIF occurrence search + PRESERVED_SPECIMEN pass, retrieved 2026-08-24. Boundaries digitised from the National Ecological Framework for Canada v2.2 (Ecological Stratification Working Group 1995), simplified to about 900 m for display: an outline is accurate to roughly a kilometre, not to the metre. How these counts are made.

See every observation, live and current, on GBIF or iNaturalist.

Documented animals

9 documented relationships, 2 with a specialist that has no alternative.

caterpillar host for

Agromyza pseudoreptans Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Heterogaster behrensii Specimen records from bins.boldsystems.org
Milbert's Tortoiseshell ★Acorn & Sheldon 2006
Polygonia interrogationis Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Red Admiral ★Acorn & Sheldon 2006

nectar for

Fall Webworm Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Limenitis lorquini Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Neurocolpus nubilus Specimen records from iNaturalist.org
Red Admiral Specimen records from iNaturalist.org

Also worth knowing

Safety

Toxicity not assessed, absence of a warning is not a guarantee of safety

Edible parts

Young leaves and shoots (cooked; stinging trichomes neutralized by heat or drying)

Buying it

About $8–$16 per plant (estimate), usually from a native-plant nursery. Estimate (herb default); AB retail as of 2026