Boehmeria cylindrica

Herbs or subshrubs , 1-16 dm. Leaves opposite or nearly opposite, rarely alternate. Leaf blades elliptic, lanceolate to broadly ovate, 5-18 × 2-10 cm, almost glabrous on both surfaces or abaxially densely short-pilose or puberulent, adaxially scabrous. Inflorescences spikelike, often leafy at apex. Flowers in remote or crowded clusters of 1-few staminate and several pistillate flowers or rarely staminate and pistillate flowers on different plants. Achenes ovoid to nearly orbicular, 0.9-1.6 × 0.9-1.2 mm, almost glabrous or pubescent with straight and hooked hairs; seeds prominent, conspicuous in outline, surrounded except at base by corky tissue. 2 n = 28. Flowering summer-fall. Alluvial or moist, deciduous woods, swamps, bogs, marshes, wet meadows, ditches; 0-1800 m; N.B., Ont., Que.; Ala., Ariz., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans., Ky., La., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., Nebr., N.H., N.J., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., R.I., S.C., S.Dak., Tenn., Tex., Utah, Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.; Mexico; West Indies; Bermuda; Central America; South America (Argentina, s Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela). Populations of Boehmeria cylindrica are disjunct in South America. Plants with thick, often drooping, lanceolate leaf blades, more or less pilose or puberulent abaxially, scabrous adaxially, with short petioles, pilose or puberulent stems, and densely pubescent achenes have been called Boehmeria cylindrica var. drummondiana . These plants are found mostly, but not exclusively, in the southeastern United States and are totally sympatric with more typical plants. The above characteristics may or may not occur together, and each grades into the state found in more typical plants through abundant intermediates. Field and experimental studies are needed to clarify the biologic basis of this variation.

Plant: perennial, rhizomatous herb or subshrub; 0.1-1.6 m tall Leaves: opposite or subopposite, rarely alternate; blades elliptic, lanceolate, to widely ovate, 5-18 cm long, 2-10 cm wide, subglabrous on both surfaces to scabrous adaxially and densely short pilose or puberulent abaxially INFLORESCENCE: spikelike, often with a tuft of reduced leaves at the apex Flowers: in remote or crowded clusters of 1-few staminate flowers and several pistillate flowers or, rarely, all flowers of one kind; STAMINATE FLOWERS with 4 tepals, 4 stamens, the rudimentary pistil represented by a globose structure; PISTILLATE FLOWERS with the perianth parts fused and adnate to the ovary; style elongate, persistent; stigma linear, straight, or hooked Fruit: ACHENES flattened, ovoid to subcircular, 0.9-1.6 mm long, 0.9-1.2 mm broad, subglabrous or bearing straight and hooked hairs; seed shape clearly apparent through the tightly adnate calyx, surrounded except at the base by corky tissue Misc: Swamps, bogs, marshes, wet meadows, ditches REFERENCES: Boufford, David E. 1992. Urticaceae. Ariz.-Nev. Acad. Sci. 26(1)2.

Perennial herb or subshrub 10 cm - 1.6 m tall Stem: erect, usually unbranched, lacking stinging hairs. Leaves: opposite to nearly opposite, rarely alternate, long-stalked, 5 - 18 cm long, 2 - 10 cm wide, elliptic to lance-shaped or broad egg-shaped with a pointed tip, toothed, nearly hairless on both sides or short-haired beneath and rough above but lacking stinging hairs. Flowers: either male or female, usually found on the same plant (monoecious) and often in the same cluster, borne axillary on a spike that is often leafy at the tip, each flower tiny with four tepals. Fruit: an egg-shaped to nearly circular achene, 0.9 - 1.6 mm long, 0.9 - 1.2 mm wide, nearly hairless or with straight and hooked hairs.

Similar species: Pilea pumila and Pilea fontana are usually hairless, and Laportea canadensis and Urtica dioica have stiff, stinging hairs in addition to flexible, non-stinging hairs. Parietaria pensylvanica differs by its alternate, non-toothed leaves.

Flowering: early July to early September

Habitat and ecology: Wet areas such as marshes, bogs, and floodplain woods.

Occurence in the Chicago region: native

Etymology: Boehmeria is named after Georg Rudolph Boehmer (1723-1803), a Botany professor at Wittenberg. Cylindrica means cylindric.

Author: The Morton Arboretum

Perennial, usually dioecious herb of nettle-like aspect, but without stinging hairs; stems erect, usually simple, 4-10 dm; lvs opposite, long-petioled, ovate to lance-ovate, acute or acuminate, coarsely serrate, 3-nerved; fls minute, in small, capitate clusters along an unbranched axis, forming interrupted or continuous spikes from the upper axils; fr ovate, minutely winged. Moist or wet soil; Que. and Ont. to Minn., s. to Fla. and N.M. July, Aug. (B. drummondiana, the sun-form, with smaller, firmer, more hairy lvs)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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