Urtica from Nilgiri Tamilnadu : 10 posts by 4 authors. Attachments (2) Urtica, undershrub at 2000m altitude near Doddabetta Nilgiri Tamilnadu It seems to be Urtica hyperborea Jacq. ex Wedd. Surely Urtica hyperborea has never been recorded from Tamil Nadu before? Sorry ... but this plant does not come close to Urtica hyperborea..... I am familiar with U.hyperborea from high-altitude passes in Ladakh - which is thousands of kms to the north with a completely different climate. According to 'Flowers of the Himalaya' this species is distributed from Pakistan to Bhutan also Tibet and Mongolia on stony high altitude steppes @ 4100-5100m. Stewart gives an altitudinal range for Hunza, Baltistan & Ladakh from 3600-5200m. It is also recorded from E.Tibet North of Sikkim on mountain slopes @ 5000m. An occurrence, albeit in the hills near Ooty, would be extraordinary. I have never been to Tamil Nadu and know nothing of its flora. I note there are no images of U.hyperborea on efi. I do not know what it is but sure that it is neither U. hyperborea nor Urtica as all Urtica species have opposite leaves. Must be some other genus in Urticaceae.It looks like Laportea interrupta (L.)Chew, I checked on different threads under Laportea interrupta, but I find the images different, particularly the inflorescence. Herbs annual, monoecious. Stems straight, branched, 40-100 cm tall; stems and petioles sparsely armed with short stinging and pubescent hairs. Stipules ovate-oblong, ca. 4 mm, -not clear; leaf blade ovate or cordate, 5-8 × 4-5.5 cm, herba-ceous, 3-veined, lateral basal pair reaching middle margin, lateral veins 5 or 6 each side of midvein, reaching teeth, both surfaces sparsely armed with short, stinging hairs, base abruptly cuneate or shallowly cordate, margin serrate, apex acuminate; cystoliths botuliform, regularly arranged abaxially along veins. Inflorescences axillary, long spicate, to 25 cm, glomerules at intervals along elongated peduncle consequent upon great reduction of the lateral branches, sparsely armed with minutely stinging hairs. based on the characters I have identified ; flower is not clear; you can observe these characters in the pictures; As per K.M Mathews Flora Karnatika and Tamilnadu and As per eflora China the description is verified; Please observe the inflorescence branches; The images given by Flora of Mozambique, and other threads are different; pls observe them they are close to our friends images |
# Species- Seed plants (families) > M---Z (families & genera) > U > Urticaceae > Laportea > Laportea species ? >
