Urtica gracilis Aiton, Hort. Kew. 3: 341. 1789; U. californica Greene; U. dioica var. angustifolia Schlechtendal; U. dioica var. californica (Greene) C. L. Hitchcock; U. dioica var. gracilis (Aiton) R. L. Taylor & MacBryde; U. dioica var. lyallii (S. Watson) C. L. Hitchcock; U. dioica var. procera (Muhlenberg ex Willdenow) Weddell; U. lyallii S. Watson; U. lyallii var. californica (Greene) Jepson; U. procera Muhlenberg ex Willdenow; U. viridis Rydberg

Stems glabrous or strigose, with a few stinging hairs. Leaf blades abaxially bearing stinging hairs, otherwise glabrous or puberulent, adaxially without or rarely with a few stinging hairs. Flowers unisexual, staminate and pistillate mostly on same plant. 2 n = 26, 52.

Flowering late spring-summer. Alluvial woods, margins of deciduous woodlands, fencerows, waste places; 0-3100 m; St. Pierre and Miquelon; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld., N.W.T., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask., Yukon; Ala., Alaska, Ariz., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Mont., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Okla., Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Utah, Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.

Native Americans used Urtica dioica subsp. gracilis medicinally for rheumatism, upset stomach,childbirth, paralysis, fevers, colds, tuberculosis, and as a general tonic, and as a witchcraft medicine (D. E. Moerman 1986).