Hemp Nettle

(Galeopsis tetrahit)

 

Color Photograph: © by and courtesy of Martin Olsson, GNU Free Documentation License

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Hemp Nettle (Galeopsis tetrahit)

Alien: Native of Europe.

Identification: Flowers pink to light purple, hairy, blotched with white and dark purple. Lower lip hanging, bilobed with two bumps at its base. Upper petal lobe broad and rooflike. Calyx with long spinelike teeth. Flowers in whorls around the leaf axils. Stem bristly and swollen just below the leaf joints. Leaves ovate-elongate, hairy, and heavily toothed. Plant 1 to 2 feet in height.

Distribution: Throughout southern Canada and the northern United States, south to West Virginia, Missouri, and Oregon.

Habitat: Hemp Nettle is a species of disturbed habitats such as empty lots, fields, and roadsides.

Flowering period: June to September.

Hemp Nettle (Galeopsis tetrahit)

Similar Species: The beautiful flowers with the bumps at the base of the lower petal lobe, the bristly stem, and the swelling just below the leaf joints should easily identify this species.

Similar Species

No Similar Species