Eucnide urens
Clark Co., NV
Spjut 15229B, Apr 2003

Sympetaleia (Eucnide) aurea
Gulf Coast, Bahía Concepcion, BCS
Spjut & Edson 5385, Mar 1979

Eucnide urens
Inyo Co., south end of Panamint Valley, CA
May 2006

Trees and Shrubs of Kern County (Jan 2013)

Eucnide urens (Mentzelia urens A. Gray 1874) Parry 1875. Rock nettle.  Plant mostly herbaceous but with a woody base and appearing bushy overall in producing numerous stems that ascend from a white a taproot, spreading outwards and upwards to 2 m broad and 75 cm high, densely covered with stinging (very nasty) Velcro hairs; the young herbaceous parts easily cling to clothing; as a result are nearly impossible to completely remove. Flowering Mar–Jul; flowers conspicuous, cream, 2.5–4 cm; fruit a denticidal capsule, dispersing numerous minute seeds through a broad apical opening of 5 valves.  On rock faces along the Colorado River canyon, and dry alkaline lakes in the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts, abundant in washes just east of Las Vegas, Nevada; to Utah and Arizona.  Type from St. George, UT. Kern Co.: known from the El Paso Range, Red Rock Canyon, Last  Chance Canyon, and Jawbone Canyon, 671–873 m (CCH; Twisselmann).