Wood Nettle

Laportea canadensis

Safety note: Stinging hairs on stems and leaves cause a painful burning rash on skin contact. Handle with gloves.

Wood Nettle is a native North American perennial that grows 2–4 feet tall in rich, moist forest understories. Its alternate, broadly ovate leaves and stinging trichomes distinguish it from the introduced Stinging Nettle, which has opposite leaves. It grows in dense colonies along streams and bottomlands, often indicating undisturbed, fertile woodland soil. The tender young shoots are edible after boiling and were an important spring vegetable for many Indigenous nations.

Habitat

Rich moist forests, bottomlands, stream banks

Diet

Larval host for red admiral butterfly; foliage browsed by deer in small amounts

How common

Common