Urtica dioica var. atrichocaulis Handel-Mazzetti, Symb. Sin. 7: 110. 1929.

Herbs perennial, monoecious. Rhizomes woody. Stems gracile, simple or branched, 30-150 cm tall; stems, petioles, and both surfaces of leaf blade sparsely hirtellous, armed with stinging hairs, particularly on nodes. Stipules free, oblong-linear, 4-7 mm, puberulent; petiole 1-4 cm; leaf blade ovate or narrowly ovate, rarely lanceolate, 2.5-7(-9) × 1-3 cm, 3-veined, base broadly cuneate, rounded or shallowly cordate, margin 12-15-dentate or rarely doubly serrate, apex acute or shortly acuminate; cystoliths punctiform. Inflorescences containing proximal female flowers and distal male flowers, spicate, as long as petioles. Male flowers short pedicellate, in bud ca. 1.2 mm; perianth lobes connate 1/2 of length, puberulent. Female flowers: perianth lobes connate 1/2 of length, dorsal-ventral lobes elliptic-ovate, as long as achene, lateral lobes shorter reaching to 1/3 of distal part of larger lobes, subglabrous. Achene ovoid, compressed, 0.8 mm, smooth, enclosed by persistent perianth lobes. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Jul-Sep.

* Valleys, along streams, roadsides; 300-2600 m. SW Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan.