宽叶荨麻 kuan ye qian ma

Herbs perennial, monoecious, rarely dioecious. Rhizomes woody. Stems simple or few branched, 30-100 cm tall, subglabrous or sparsely hirtellous and with sparsely stinging hairs, particularly on nodes. Stipules free (sometimes partly connate with 2-lobed apex on upper parts of plant), lanceolate or oblong, 3-8 mm, puberulent; petiole slender, 1.5-7 cm, with sparse stinging and hirtellous hairs; leaf blade ovate, cordate or lanceolate, often gradually narrow distally, 4-10 × 2-6 cm, often membranous, 3-veined, lateral basal veins arcuate, reaching distal margin and anastomosing, secondary veins 2 or 3 on each side, both surfaces with sparse stinging and hirtellous hairs, base broadly cuneate, rounded, or cordate, margin dentate or serrate, apex short acuminate to caudate-acuminate; cystoliths often botuliform, sometimes punctiform. Inflorescences unisexual; male inflorescences in distal axils, spicate, to 8 cm; female ones in proximal axils, subspicate, slender, sometimes glomerules interruped along axis. Male flowers sessile or short pedicellate, in bud ca. 1 mm; perianth lobes connate 1/2 of length, puberulent. Female flowers: perianth lobes connate at base, dorsal-ventral lobes elliptic-ovate, ca. 1 mm, sparsely or densely setulose, lateral lobes narrowly ovate, 3-5 times as short as dorsal ones Achene gray-brown, ovoid or narrowly ovoid, slightly compressed, ca. 1 mm, inconspicuously verrucose or smooth, invested by persistent perianth lobes. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Aug-Oct.

Moist places in forests, thickets, along streams, river banks; 100-3500 m. Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, E Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, SE Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, SE Xizang, Yunnan [Japan, Korea, Russia (Far East)].

Dmitry Geltman (pers. comm.) believes that Urtica silvatica should be treated as a separate species and not as a synonym of U. laetevirens. The former species has connate stipules, whereas the latter species always has free stipules.