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White Hedge Nettle
Stachys albens
  
About White Hedge Nettle (Stachys albens) 8 Nurseries Carry This Plant White Hedge Nettle, Stachys albens, is a mint endemic to California. The plant is fuzzy all over, with opposite, triangular, serrate leaves, a square stem, and a fragrant minty smell if bruised. It produces a layered spike of many small white to cream colored flowers with purplish veins. Each flower has a 2-lipped and 5-lobed calyx which is densely cobwebby.

Stachys albens occurs between sea level (0 ft.) and 9000 ft. (2740 m) in nature. It is found in moist to wet riparian, bog, seep, and swamp habitats within the following plant communities: Central, Foothill, and Southern Oak Woodland; Chaparral and Coastal Sage Scrub;, Valley Grassland; Wetland-Riparian; Yellow Pine Forest; Red Fir Forest; Lodgepole Pine Forest; California Mixed Evergreen Forest; and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland (Mojave and Colorado Deserts).

White Hedge Nettle is very easy to grow in sun (coast-high elevations) to part sun (coast-inland) in regularly watered landscape areas. It is a winter deciduous/dormant perennial plant, and in dryer gardens it may go partially or fully summer dormant/deciduous also. It spreads by rhizomes to the edge of moisture, and in consistently moist garden conditions can become invasive. Stachys albens is a larval host for the Variable Checkerspot. Butterfly.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Plant Type
Perennial herb

Size
Size
1.5 - 4 ft tall
1.5 - 6 ft wide

Form
Form
Mounding, Spreading

Growth Rate
Growth Rate
Fast

Dormancy
Dormancy
Winter Deciduous

Flower Color
Flower Color
White

Wildlife Supported
 
Variable Checkerspot Butterfly (larval host), other butterflies/moths, Hummingbirds, native bees and bumblebees, and other pollinators

Landscaping Information
Sun
Sun
Full Sun, Part Shade

Moisture
Moisture
Moderate - High

Nurseries
Nurseries

Soil Drainage
Soil Drainage
Fast, Medium, Slow

Soil Description
Soil Description
Tolerant of a variety of garden soils as long as sufficient moisture is available. Soil PH: 5 - 7.8

Common uses
Common uses
Hummingbird Gardens, Bird Gardens, Bee Gardens

Sunset Zones
Sunset Zones?
1, 2, 3, 4, 5*, 6*, 7*, 8*, 9*, 10, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17*, 18*, 19*, 20*, 21*, 22*, 23*, 24

Natural Setting
Site Type
Site Type
Moist places

Climate
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 4.8" - 71.8", Summer Precipitation: 0.15" - 2.73", Coldest Month: 24.6" - 56.4", Hottest Month: 46.6" - 83.6", Humidity: 0.33" - 37.33", Elevation: -13" - 11629"

Alternative Names
Common Names: Cobwebby Hedge-nettle, White Hedgenettle, Whitestem Hedgenettle, Woolly White Hedge Nettle


Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links:   Jepson eFlora Taxon Page  CalPhotos  Wikipedia  Calflora


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