Bull nettles

[CowboyRon]

I came across a plant that I haven't seen since I was a young boy in the 70's.
We called them bull nettles, and we had them on a ranch in West Dallas.
I remember if you even touched them it was like a mess of fire ants.
Does anyone else remember these, or still have them? When I try to look them up, I'm not really having any luck. It only a Texas plant or were they all over? Here's a few pics from this morning.

 

[polo1665]

I came across a plant that I haven't seen since I was a young boy in the 70's.
We called them bull nettles, and we had them on a ranch in West Dallas.
I remember if you even touched them it was like a mess of fire ants.
Does anyone else remember these, or still have them? When I try to look them up, I'm not really having any luck. It only a Texas plant or were they all over? Here's a few pics from this morning.

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We have stinging nettles in Ohio, but they don't look like those. I've gotten too close a few times mowing.

 

[SEKhobbyist]

There is an app called "PictureThis". I downloaded it to my phone. Love it. You take a picture thru the app and it identifies plants. I entered your picture and the plant identifies as Texas bullnettle. Great app has helped me with noxious plants, and tree identification. I highly recommend it.

 

[oosik]

We have nothing like that here. We have Bull Thistles & Canadian thistles. Completely different plant. We do have "standard" nettles. That has a very pretty flower.

 

[Bigfoot62]

I came across a plant that I haven't seen since I was a young boy in the 70's.
We called them bull nettles . . .

Yeah, we got plenty of them here. If anybody wants to get a start, I can fix you up. Just let me know how many you want, and I'll get you a price.

Actually, I've been trying to eradicate them on my place for 30+ years. Have to kill them with herbicide. No matter how many times you mow it down, it pops right back up. The tap root is huge.

. . . That has a very pretty flower. . .

That's so you know where to spray the 2,4-D!!!

BTW, we not only have the bullnettles, we have grass burrs (sand burrs), thistles, saw briers, as well as locust, prickly ash and hardy orange trees.

 

[Bird]

The last time I saw any stinging nettles; I thought they were bull nettles, but maybe not, but it was along the Susquehanna River out of Sayre, PA, in the summer of 1962 I believe. Although we had the same or something similar in Carter County, Oklahoma when I was a kid. Everyone I knew in both of those places CALLED them Bull Nettles, but that may not have been the proper name.

 

[txdon]

On the farm in central Texas I had thousands.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin

During a severe drought it survives.

 

[Bigfoot62]

On the farm in central Texas I had thousands.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin

During a severe drought it survives.

Yeah, like I said, it has a huge tap root. Many of the mature plants have a root that is 6-8" in diameter and up to 10' long. My dad used to dig around them, loop a chain over it, and use the tractor to pull them up.
I like the 2,4-D.

 

[Beeenvenue]

There is an app called "PictureThis". I downloaded it to my phone. Love it. You take a picture thru the app and it identifies plants. I entered your picture and the plant identifies as Texas bullnettle. Great app has helped me with noxious plants, and tree identification. I highly recommend it.

There is one from National Geographic called SEEK by INaturalist that does ID from pictures or straight through the camera. It will identify its full classification all the way to species and works for animals and plants, and automatically links to the description on Wikipedia. Really amazing.

 

[Hay Dude]

I came across a plant that I haven't seen since I was a young boy in the 70's.
We called them bull nettles, and we had them on a ranch in West Dallas.
I remember if you even touched them it was like a mess of fire ants.
Does anyone else remember these, or still have them? When I try to look them up, I'm not really having any luck. It only a Texas plant or were they all over? Here's a few pics from this morning.

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I might have to get a nice bouquet of those for my mother in law. :laughing: