Boehmeria tenacissima Gaudichaud-Beaupré, Voy. Uranie, Bot. 500. 1830; B. frutescens var. concolor (Makino) Nakai; B. nipononivea Koidzumi; B. nivea var. candicans Weddell; B. nivea var. concolor Makino; B. nivea var. nipononivea (Koidzumi) W. T. Wang; B. nivea var. viridula Yamamoto; B. thailandica Yahara.

Plants 0.5-2.5 m tall; stems and petioles sparsely appressed strigose, occasionally hairs dense and assurgent. Stipules connate at base or rarely to middle; leaf blade usually ovate or elliptic-ovate, 5-13 × 3.5-12 cm, abaxial surface greenish, sparsely appressed strigillose or patent pubescent, sometimes thinly canescent-tomentose on veinlets, base rounded, broadly cuneate or abruptly narrowly cuneate.

This variety is cultivated in Anhui, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Taiwan, and Zhejiang. It is perhaps the original wild form of the species.

Forest margins, thickets, moist places along streams, occasionally cultivated; 200-1200 m. S Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, SE Yunnan, Zhejiang [Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam].