Mint Family – Lamiaceae
Actual size: 1 to 1.5 inches long
Plant Description: Cooley’s Hedge-nettle is a 5 feet tall perennial with strongly square and bristly stems. Magenta colored flowers sprout in the axils of the upper leaves in whorls of three or four. The leaves are opposite, oval, toothed, 3 to 6 inch long, and hairy on both sides. They have a strong odor.
Flower Description: The 1 to 1.5 inch-long, magenta flowers are tubular.. The upper lip is narrowly hooded. The lower lip has 3 lobes, the middle one of which is much larger and scoop-shaped with white spots. There is a narrow ring of hairs near the base of the tube. There are 4 stamen with double anthers and 1 style.
Ecology: Cooley’s Hedge-nettle grows in swampy, openings in the woods at low to mid-elevations.
Notes:
- Cooley’s Hedge-nettle is pollinated by hummingbirds.
- The leaves have a strong odor when crushed.
- Cooley’s Hedge-nettle is not related to the Stinging Nettle, which it slightly resembles when not in flower. (Cooley’s Hedge-nettle has large, magenta flowers and does not sting.)
Cooley’s Hedge-nettle Photo Gallery
Photo Information: #2013 was taken on 7/21/00 along the roadside to Mt. Baker; #3743, 3745, and 3747 were taken on June 23, 2002 on Tiger Mountain; #4391 was taken on June 18 in the Echo Lake School garden in Shoreline WA.
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