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".
