Common Nettle - Urtica dioica
Medium to tall vigorous often patch forming plant, with stout stolons and square stems. Leaves opposite, heart shaped to lanceolate, toothed and armed with stinging hairs. Terminal leaf-tooth longer than the lateral ones. Male and female flowers, greenish on separate plants. Male in long drooping catkin like spikes, female in small clusters.
Almost anywhere.
Flowering June to September.
Perennial.
Abundant throughout Britain.
Abundant in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 607 of the 617 tetrads.
HAPeacock
The Orchards
26 June 2012
David Nicholls
Ratby
24 May 2014
Ruth Dring
Broughton Astley
27 August 2012
Graham Calow
Burbage Common
16 August 2015
Long triangular leaf with terminal leaf-tooth
longer than the lateral ones Field by Granitethorpe Footpath Sapcote SP 4917 9358 (taken 20.5.2006).JPG)
Graham Calow
Sapcote
20 May 2006
Paul Ruddoch
Melton Country Park
28 June 2014
 Field by Granitethorpe Footpath Sapcote SP 4917 9358 (taken 20.5.2006).JPG)
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Species profile
- Common names
- Nettle, Stinging Nettle, Common Nettle
- Species group:
- Wildflowers
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Rosales
- Family:
- Urticaceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 1286
- First record:
- 11/05/1992 (John Mousley;Steve Grover)
- Last record:
- 02/02/2026 (Ramsell, Jean)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
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Latest images
Latest records
 Fosse Meadows Sharnford SP48249111 (taken 8.9.2010).JPG)
Graham Calow
Fosse Meadows, Sharnford
08 September 2010
Paul Ruddoch
Melton Country Park
29 May 2015
Barbara Cooper
Foxton Locks
22 May 2015
AJ Cann
Knighton
20 June 2015
Simon Bennett
Attenborough Arboretum
30 June 2015
Barbara Cooper
Long Clawson
24 May 2012
Alan Semper
Harby churchyard
28 May 2012
HAPeacock
River Soar - St Marys Mill
14 June 2012
Fran Marsland
Broughton Astley
17 July 2012
John Hayes
Woodgate Burbage
14 May 2014
 Fosse Meadows Sharnford SP48249111 (taken 8.9.2010).JPG)
Aphis urticata
Aphis urticata is one of two aphid species associated with Common Nettle (Stinging Nettle). Early generations are dark bluish-green often mottled with a lighter green they have pale tapering siphunculi and a pale cauda - the adult apterae are 1.7 to 2.2 mm.
Nettle Aphid
The Nettle Aphid (Microlophium carnosum) is a very variable species with winged and unwinged forms that may be various colours, often green or pink. It is one of two aphid species associated with Common Nettle (Stinging Nettle).
Trioza urticae
The psyllid bug or jumping plant louseTrioza urticae is a reasonably distinctive species in a large and difficult genus. Distinguishing features include the relatively rounded (for Trioza) forewings with long outer vein, which together with its occurrence on nettles, make it reasonably easy to identify, although colouration is quite variable. The three main veins arise from a single point, which is the thing that distinguishes Triozidae. Early instar nymphs are pale, but the later stages have a distinctive black patterning. It causes galls on nettle; the young leaves are curled up and darker green, with the flat psyllids in a small depression beneath.
Agromyza anthracina
The larva of the Agromyzid fly Agromyza anthracina mines the leaves of Common Nettle and other related host plants. The mine usually starts away from the leaf edge and has a coiled intestine like start; it has frass in long threads in the broader part of the mine.
Agromyza pseudoreptans/reptans agg.
The larvae of the Agromyzif flies comprising the Agromyza pseudoreptans/reptans agg. mine the leaves of Common Nettle and other related host plants. The mine is a long blotch mine, usually adjacent to the edge of the leaf, which turns black. The mines of the two species cannot be reliably separated to species level and for this reason we treat them as an aggregate.
Dasineura dioicae
The larvae of the gall midge Dasineura dioicae cause galls to form on Common Nettle. The leaf margin becomes slightly thickened and curls loosely upwards. The galled leaves can be whitish or reddened. The gall contains a white, or yellowish white larva.
Dasineura urticae
The larva of the gall-midge Dasineura urticae causes galls to form on the leaves of Common (Stinging) Nettle and Small (Annual) Nettle. The galls are pouch swellings of midrib, leaf, petiole or flower stalk. Occasionally they are found in flowers or stem. There is an opening on the upperside. The larva is white, but according to Redfern and Shirley (2011) there may be pink, orange or red inquiline larvae inside. .
Puccinia urticata
Puccinia urticata is a rust fungus which causes galls on the stems and leaves of the alternate host, nettles (Common Nettle and Small Nettle). The galls are reddish and can be large, causing considerable swelling and distortion of stem and petioles. Orange aecia and spermogonia are borne on the swollen areas and leaf undersides.