Wigandia urens

Stinging wigandia, Stinging Wigandia

Family: Namaceae · Type: shrub · Not Native

Stinging wigandia is a naturalized shrub found in southern California coastal areas and potentially other regions, growing in open, disturbed areas, urban edges, and abandoned homesteads at elevations from sea level to 500 meters. Flowering from January to May and again from June to September, this plant produces lavender to purple flowers with white to purple throats approximately 15 to 25 millimeters in diameter. Growing 2 to 6 meters tall with robust branching, it develops large, striking foliage with petioles 5 to 15 centimeters long. Its expansive leaves are ovate to obovate, measuring 10 to 80 centimeters long and 10 to 45 centimeters wide, with distinctively toothed edges. The fruit develops 10 to 15 millimeters long, containing over 200 small, net-veined brown seeds.

Habitat: Open, disturbed areas, slopes, +- urban areas, abandoned homesteads; ornamental, cultivated

Bloom period: Jan-Apr(May), Jun--Sep(Nov), possibly +- year round in cultivation

Elevation: 0-500 m [<= 2500 m]

Bioregions: SCo, expected elsewhere

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.