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  4. Urtica sykesii

Urtica sykesii

Lake Waikaremoana.<br>Photographer: John Sawyer, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Cobb. January.<br>Photographer: John Smith-Dodsworth, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Korokoro Stream, Lower Hutt.<br>Photographer: Jeremy R. Rolfe, Date taken: 21/12/2008, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Lake Wakareiti Track, Te Urewera.<br>Photographer: John Sawyer, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Lake Wakareiti Track, Te Urewera.<br>Photographer: John Sawyer, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Lake Wakareiti Track, Te Urewera.<br>Photographer: John Sawyer, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>.
Lake Waikaremoana.<br>Photographer: John Sawyer, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Lake Waikaremoana.<br>Photographer: John Sawyer, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0'>CC BY-NC</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
Greenstone Valley.<br>Photographer: John Barkla, Date taken: 01/03/2013, Licence: <a target='_blank' href='https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0'>CC BY</a>. <a class='member-message' href='/nzpcn/why-join-nzpcn/' target='_blank'>Members can view a larger version of this image.</a>
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Common names

native nettle, bush nettle

Biostatus

Native

Category

Vascular

Structural class

Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites

Simplified description

Delicate, usually much-branched herb covered in prominent stinging hairs. Leaves green, deeply incised, triangular-ovate with subcordate leaf bases. Plants bearing both male and female flowers.

Flower colours

Green, Yellow

Detailed description

Erect, perennial, rhizomatous herb 0.15–0.60 m with elongating rhizomes, aerial stems usually unbranched. Stem indumentum of very few stinging hairs with pluricellular base c. 0.2–0.5 mm overall and erect setae 1.3–2.2 mm long and very few simple trichomes 0.2–0.3 mm long. Leaf lamina 20–60 × 20–50 mm triangular to triangular-ovate; surface very sparsely pubescent with short simple trichomes 0.2–0.5 mm long and very few stinging hairs (abaxially only on the veins), adaxially with punctiform cystoliths; leaf base truncate to subcordate; margins regularly dentate with 9–10(–12) teeth on each side; leaf apex acute to acuminate; lamina light greenish; stipules free (4 per node) 2–10 mm long; petioles 30–70 mm long. Plants monoecious; lowest inflorescences pure male, upper ones pure female. Staminate flowers with tepals c. 1.2–1.8 mm long. Pistillate flowers with short tepals 0.5–0.7 mm long and long tepals 0.9–1.1 mm long, sparsely pubescent, esetulose. Inflorescence 10–20 mm. Mature fruit with longer tepals 1.3–1.5 mm long, achenes subcircular in outline, rounded at base and at the tip, laterally flattened, c. 1.2–1.5 × 0.8–1 mm.

Similar taxa

Distinguished from other New Zealand Urtica by the triangular-ovate leaves with subcordate bases, which are 20–60 mm long; usually moderately to densely setose (hairy) on the stems and leaves; and by the monoecious flowers, with male flowers arranged below the female flowers

Distribution

Indigenous. Australia and New Zealand. In New Zealand widespread in the North and South Islands though scarce north of Auckland. Seemingly confined to Victoria in Eastern Australia.

Current conservation status

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.

  • Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

2023 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO

Jump to previous conservation statuses

Detailed taxonomy

Family

Urticaceae

Authority

Urtica sykesii Grosse-Veldmann et Weigend

Synonyms

Previously confused with Urtica incisa Poir. See under ‘Taxonomic Notes’ below

Taxonomic notes

Urtica sykesii is the species previously treated (incorrectly it transpires see Grosse-Veldmann et al. 2016) by New Zealand botanists as Urtica incisa Poir., an Australian species that is sparingly naturalised in New Zealand (where it had previously, incorrectly, been treated as U. dioica subsp. gracilis (Webb et al. 1988)).

Endemic taxon

No

Endemic genus

No

Endemic family

No

Ecology

Flowering

Throughout the year

Fruiting

Throughout the year

Propagation technique

Easily grown from rooted pieced, stem cuttings and fresh seed. Flourishes in a shady, moist soil. Inclined to be short-lived. The impact of the stinging hairs seems to vary from plant to plant and in the way people react to them. Generally this species has a less painful sting than our other indigenous Urtica

Other information

Etymology

urtica: From the Latin verb urere which means “to burn”

sykesii: Named after William Russell Sykes (1927-2018) an English born botanist who emigrated to New Zealand in the late 1960s and worked for the DSIR Botany Division and DSIR Land Resources. Sykes specialised in the taxonomy of cultivated plants, naturalised plants and made studies of the South Pacific Islands, especially the Kermadec and Cook Island groups.

NVS code

The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.

URTSYK

Chromosome number

2n = 24

Previous conservation statuses

The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2022-2023 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) – more information about this can be found on the NZTCS website. This report includes replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Previous assessments can be found here.

  • Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. 2024. Peter J. de Lange, Jane Gosden, Shannel P. Courtney, Alexander J. Fergus, John W. Barkla, Sarah M. Beadel, Paul D. Champion, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Troy Makan and Pascale Michel Department of Conservation. Source: NZTCS and licensed by DOC for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

2017 | Not Threatened | Qualifiers: SO

2012 | Not Threatened

2009 | Not Threatened

2004 | Not Threatened

Jump to current conservation status

Regional conservation statuses

The regional threat classification system leverages off the national assessments in the NZTCS, providing information relevant for the regional context. Otago conservation status information is sourced from the “Regional conservation status of indigenous vascular plants in Otago” Jarvie S et al. (2024) report.

Otago: 2024 | Regionally Not Threatened | Qualifiers: TL

Referencing and citations

References and further reading

Grosse-Veldmann, B.; Conn, B.J.; Weigend, M. 2016: Weeding the nettles IV: A redefinition of Urtica incisa and allies in New Zealand and Australia, including the segregation of two new species Urtica sykesii and U. perconfusa. Phytotaxa 245(4): 251-261.

Webb CJ, Sykes WR, Garnock-Jones PJ 1988. Flora of New Zealand. Vol. IV. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch.

Attribution

Fact Sheet prepared by P.J. de Lange (14 February 2016). Description based on Grosse-Veldmann et al. (2016).

NZPCN Fact Sheet citation

Please cite as: de Lange, P.J. (Year at time of access): Urtica sykesii Fact Sheet (content continuously updated). New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. https://www.nzpcn.org.nz/flora/species/urtica-sykesii/ (Date website was queried)

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