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Rough Hedge-nettle

Stachys aspera

Found in moist or wet sandy soil of pine savannas, marshes, or swamp forests, mafic barrens, sinkhole ponds in the Great Valley. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you

59
Strong

Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 94%

Height
Up to about 2.5 feet
Light
Partial shade, Full shade, Full sun
Soil moisture
Moist to wet
Will it fit your yard?

Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source

Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.

At a glance

Life cycle
Annual
Bloom
June to August
Fruiting season
August to September

Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves

Recorded in 13 Virginia counties.

Natural habitats

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

1 of 5

Pine savannas

Sandy Pine Savanna, Rush Featherling subtype
Sandy pine savanna. Shown: Shaken Creek Preserve, Pender and Onslow Counties, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Sandy Pine Savanna, Rush Featherling subtype, Robert Thornhill, undated. CC BY 4.0. Source record.

Swamps

View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina
Named place / source context. Shown: Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, as titled by Museum of Fine Arts Boston; nineteenth-century artistic interpretation, a neighboring state.View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, Regis Francois Gignoux, 1850. Public domain. Source record.

Freshwater marshes

Open, herb-covered wetlands with fresh, non-tidal water.

Glades, barrens and outcrops on mafic or serpentine rock

Open, thin-soil openings, outcrops and cliffs on dark, magnesium- or iron-rich rock such as serpentine, diabase or gabbro.

Sinkhole ponds

Ponds and wet depressions in limestone sinkholes of the interior valleys and plateaus (karst), separate from the Coastal Plain's limesink ponds.

All habitats

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

10CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA

Genus host records with ranges including VA · Stachys

  • Clepsis peritanaGarden Tortrix
  • Endothenia hebesanaVerbena Bud Moth
  • Euptoieta claudiaVariegated Fritillary, (?)Gulf Fritillary
  • Helicoverpa zeaCorn Earworm Moth
  • Megalographa bilobaBilobed Looper Moth
  • Ogdoconta cinereolaCommon Pinkband Groundling
  • Vanessa carduiPainted Lady, Cosmopolite
  • Endothenia montanana
  • Endothenia nubilana
  • Pelochrista womonana
Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
16BeesSoutheastern regional records

Southeastern regional records · Stachys

Individual names are not available yet.

Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
2BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Stachys

  • Ortalis vetulaPlain Chachalaca
  • Spinus tristisAmerican Goldfinch
Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)

Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening

No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family
Lamiaceae
Flower color
White or pink
Fruit begins
August
Fruit ends
September
Growing sources and scope
  • Bloom · “June to August” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
  • Flower color · “White or pink” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
  • Fruit begins · “August” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
  • Fruit ends · “September” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
  • Height · “Up to about 2.5 feet” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
  • Life cycle · “Annual” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
  • Light · “Partial shade; Full shade; Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
  • Soil · “Moist; Wet (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
Also known as

Rough Hedge nettle; Stachys hyssopifolia var. ambigua

Conservation status

Virginia rankS2
Global rankG4?
VA statusNot verified
Federal statusNot verified

Conservation source Global and federal source

In your garden

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Sources