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Get the iPhone app Browse the guideStinging Nettle
Urtica dioica
Also called Common Nettle, Burn Nettle, Nettle
This is a weed
Nettles sting bare skin and their creeping yellow roots choke out garden plants quickly.
How to get rid of it
- Put on thick leather gloves to protect your hands.
- Dig deep with a hand fork to lift out every yellow root.
- Mow or slash down fresh regrowth every week to starve the roots.
About Stinging Nettle
This is a vigorous native perennial famous for its sting. Tiny hollow hairs on the leaves and stems inject irritants into bare skin. Butterflies love it, but its tough roots quickly take over borders.
- Type
- Perennial weed
- Height
- 3–5 ft
- Spread
- Spreads widely by runners
- Sun
- Full sun to partial shade
- Water
- Moderate
- Soil
- Rich, moist, high in nitrogen
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to -20 °F
- Flowers
- June to September
- Growth
- Upright stem spreading by creeping runners
- Toxicity
- Hairs sting skin; safe to eat once cooked
- Native to
- Europe, Asia, and North America
How to recognise it
- Heart-shaped leaves with deeply toothed margins
- Leaves arranged in opposite pairs along the stem
- Visible fine hairs that sting on contact
- Spreading yellow underground runners
Reference photos
Compare what's in your garden with confirmed photos of Stinging Nettle.
Photos from iNaturalist contributors.
Written by Garden Rescue from photo identifications, in US units. Local advice from your extension service or garden centre beats a general guide.