Nearctica - Eastern Wildflowers - Urticaceae

Clearweed

(Pilea pumila)

Color Photograph: Midwestern wetland flora: Field office guide to plant species. U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation Service, Midwest National Technical Center.

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

Clearweed (Pilea pumila [L.] Gray)

Identification: Flowers minute, green, arranged in short, hanging spikes arising from the leaf axils. Stem translucent. Stem and leaves lacking stinging hairs. Leaves in opposite pairs, ovate, with a coarsely toothed outer margin. Plant 4 to 20 inches in height.

Distribution: Throughout eastern North America.

Habitat: Clearweed is found in wet, highly shaded habitats.

Flowering period: July to October.

Similar Species: Clearweed is most likely to be confused with False Nettle. The flower spikes of False Nettle, however, curve upward. The absence of stinging hair easily separate Clearweed from either Stinging Nettle or Wood Nettle.