Erect, single-stemmed annual or perennial, 4-15 dm, often branching from near the base; lvs broadly lanceolate to oblong-ovate, petiolate, 5-12 cm, coarsely and somewhat doubly crenate-serrate; spikes paniculately disposed, slender; bracts ovate, acuminate, ciliate; cal-teeth short, subequal; cor white, the tube scarcely exserted, the limb 2(-4) mm wide, the lobes obtuse; fr exposed at the top; nutlets
1-2 mm; 2n=14. Thickets, moist fields, meadows, and waste places; N.B. (?) and Que. to N.D., s. to Fla. and
Tex. June-Oct. Var. urticifolia, with the range of the sp., has the lvs hirtellous or glabrous on both sides, the
hairs whitish, 1-1.3 mm, the cal strigose, 2-2.3 mm at maturity, and the nutlets 2 mm, corrugated on the back.
Var. leiocarpa L. M. Perry & Fernald, with more restricted range, from Conn. and Pa. to N.D., S.C., and Okla., has the lvs densely velutinous with hairs to 0.3 mm, the mature cal puberulent, to 2 mm, the nutlets 1.5 mm, smooth. A hybrid with V. stricta is V. ةllicita Moldenke; one with V. hastata is V. إngelmannii Moldenke.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.