Flora of New Zealand Series

Stout, erect or decumbent, dioecious herb, with numerous very shortly stalked stinging hairs, otherwise sparsely hairy. Lvs ovate to elliptic, acute, obtuse to truncate or rarely subcordate at base, serrate, 3-7 cm long. Stipules 4 per node, entire.

S.: lowland to montane on the E. coast and in C. Otago.

Endemic.

Tussock grassland, scrubland.

U. aspersa typically has narrow-ovate to elliptic lvs, and the lvs and petioles densely clothed in stinging hairs. Larger, less hairy plants appear similar to U. dioica.