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Burning Nettle

Urtica urens

Found in disturbed areas. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you

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Not native

Not native to Alabama. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 6%

At a glance

Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom

This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.

Recorded in 4 Alabama counties.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

All habitats

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

20CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AL

Genus host records with ranges including AL · Urtica

  • Polygonia interrogationisQuestion Mark
  • Vanessa atalantaRed Admiral
  • Acronicta oblinitaSmeared Dagger
  • Allagrapha aereaUnspotted Looper Moth
  • Chrysodeixis includensSoybean Looper Moth
  • Euplexia benesimilisAmerican Angle Shades
  • Herpetogramma pertextalisBold-Feathered Grass Moth
  • Heterophleps triguttariaThree-Spotted Fillip
  • Hypena humuliHop Snout Moth, Hop Vine Snout, Hop Looper
  • Hypena sordidulaSordid Bomolocha, Sordid Snout
Show all 20
  • Iridopsis humariaSmall Purplish Gray
  • Morrisonia confusaConfused Woodgrain
  • Pandemis lamprosanaWoodgrain Leafroller
  • Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
  • Phlogophora periculosaBrown Angle Shades
  • Polygonia commaEastern Comma
  • Pyrrharctia isabellaIsabella Tiger Moth, Banded Woolybear
  • Vanessa carduiPainted Lady, Cosmopolite
  • Vanessa virginiensisAmerican Lady, American Painted Lady
  • Zanclognatha cruralisEarly Zanclognatha, Early Fan-Foot
Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Growing and identification

Plant details

Family
URTICACEAE

Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.

Conservation status

Alabama rankNot available
Global rankNot available
AL statusNot verified
Federal statusNot verified

Conservation source

Native alternatives

Find natives for your garden

Sources