https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural-heritage/document/nh-invasive-plant-list-2023.pdf

It's interesting to see stinging nettle on the Virginia invasive species list. I assumed it was native since i remember growing up with it. Apparently there is an american-native variety of stinging nettles, and it may(or may not) actually be a subspecies of the european ones. It seems strange to me that it is on the list. I am very eager to find a tall plant from which to harvest fiber to help me on my farm-to-textiles journey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urtica_dioica

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urtica_gracilis

https://plants.usda.gov/

https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/URDID

https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/URGR3


https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/882823

"...may be confused with other members of the nettle family including American stinging nettle (U. gracilis), which is usually monoecious, stouter and more sparsely hairy..."


here is a little paper i found on nettle fiber production:
https://orgprints.org/id/eprint/6926/1/AJAA18_3_2003_nettle.pdf

https://www.growveg.com/plants/us-and-canada/how-to-grow-nettles/

https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/nativeplant/51/

https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Urtica+gracilis

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/141854-Urtica-gracilis

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325244

https://weedguide.cfaes.osu.edu/singlerecord.asp?id=81

https://www.invasive.org/species/list.cfm?id=176

https://www.invasive.org/browse/subinfo.cfm?sub=6569

https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/urtica/dioica/

...supposedly they will even hybridize???

looks like they are sold out:
https://naturewithus.com/plants/shrubs-woody-plants/american-stinging-nettle