Clearweed is a North American native, a member of the nettle family.
Plants: Clearweed is 6-24″ (15-60 cm) high, with smooth,
round stems that are somewhat translucent. These plants resemble other nettles,
including stinging nettle, but they lack the hairs that cause the sting.
Leaves: In opposite pairs, each 1-5″ (2.5-12 cm) long by
½-2½″ (1.3-6.3 cm) wide. Leaves are oval-shaped and coarse-toothed, with three prominent veins and textured
leaves. The leaves are bright green, usually shiny, and become yellow in the fall.
Flowers: Both male and female flowers
are found on each plant. Individual flowers are ⅛″ (3.2 mm) long, greenish-white or greenish-yellow. They
drop in narrow bunches from the axils of the upper leaves.
Fruits: Tiny green seeds (achenes) sometimes have
black stripes.
8/22/2012 · Squannacook River Wildlife Area, Townsend, Massachusetts · ≈ 7 × 4½″ (17 × 11 cm) ID is uncertain
8/22/2012 · Squannacook River Wildlife Area, Townsend, Massachusetts · ≈ 9 × 6″ (22 × 14 cm) ID is uncertain
8/22/2012 · Squannacook River Wildlife Area, Townsend, Massachusetts · ≈ 6 × 4″ (15 × 10 cm) ID is uncertain
2-4′ (60-121 cm) high. Stems have stiff white hairs that sting if you rub against them.
4-63″ (10-160 cm) high, and favor shady wooded areas. Stems are smooth, without the irritating hairs of stinging nettle.
6-24″ (15-60 cm) tall, with a stem that is hairless or covered with fine white hairs. Bracts beneath flowers, stems, and leaf undersides turn copper-colored.
Flowers
Male flower clusters are white or greenish white, in loose branching clusters. Each flower is less than ⅛″ (3.2 mm) across, with 5 petals. They appear from July to September.
Flowers occur on straight spikes that emerge from the stem, in clusters of small, inconspicuous green flowers. Each spike is often tipped by a couple of small leaves. Flowers appear from July to August.
Flowers are greenish-tan, and tiny—less than ⅛″ (3.2 mm) across. They flower from July to October.
Leaves
Alternate, up to 4″ (10 cm) × 6″ (15 cm), egg-shaped, with coarse serrations.
Usually opposite or nearly so. They are roughly egg-shaped, with sharp tips and teeth. (More precisely, they are elliptic, lanceolate to broadly ovate.) The leaves are 1¾-7″ (5-18 cm) × ¾-4″ (2-10 cm).
Leaves are alternate, lance-like or oval with sharp tips, 3½″ (8.9 cm) × 1″ (2.5 cm), with blunt serrations.
Fruit
Oblique dry seeds.
Spiky little balls.
A 3-lobed roughly spherical fruit containing 3 seeds.
Range/ Zones
Habitats
Moist woods, streambanks, in rich soils
Moist, deciduous woods; wet meadows; swamps, bogs, and mashes
Open woods, moist soils, gravel bars, waste ground, roadsides, railroads.
2-3′ (60-100 cm) high, rarely up to twice that. The entire plant is covered in stinging hairs.
6-24″ (15-60 cm) high, with smooth, round, translucent stems. They do not have stinging hairs.
Flowers
Plants are monoecious—male staminate flowers appear on the same plants as female pistillate flowers. Male flowers are grayish yellow, with four tepals. Female flowers have four tepals too, but in different-sized pairs. They are gray-green and hairy. The flower clusters resemble catkins.
Both male and female flowers are on each plant. Fowers are ⅛″ (3.2 mm) long, greenish-white or greenish-yellow, hanging in narrow bunches from the axils of the upper leaves.
Leaves
Opposite, oblong, cordate, and serrate (with sawtooth edges). They are 1-6″ (3-15 cm) long.
Leaves occur in opposite pairs, each 1-5″ (2.5-12 cm) long by ½-2½″ (1.3-6.3 cm) wide. Leaves are oval-shaped and coarse-toothed, with three prominent veins and textured leaves. The leaves are bright green, usually shiny, and become yellow in the fall.
Fruit
Each inner pair of tepals encloses a single deltoid to ovoid seed.
Tiny green seeds (achenes) sometimes have black stripes.
Range/ Zones
Habitats
River deltas, floodplains, margins of deciduous woodlands, fencerows, and waste places
Wet upland or floodplain forests, crevices in rocky canyons, and shady wetlands, streambanks.
8/8/2010 · Jeff Smith Trail, Beaver Brook Association Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 4 × 6″ (10 × 16 cm) ID is uncertain
8/8/2010 · Jeff Smith Trail, Beaver Brook Association Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 7 × 11″ (18 × 28 cm) ID is uncertain
8/22/2012 · Squannacook River Wildlife Area, Townsend, Massachusetts · ≈ 7 × 4½″ (17 × 11 cm) ID is uncertain
9/29/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Ayer, Massachusetts · ≈ 12 × 8″ (31 × 20 cm) ID is uncertain
8/8/2010 · Jeff Smith Trail, Beaver Brook Association Conservation Lands, Rte. 130, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 7 × 10″ (16 × 25 cm) ID is uncertain
9/27/2010 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton Center, Groton, Massachusetts · ≈ 6 × 9″ (15 × 23 cm) ID is uncertain