Wood Nettle (Laportea canadensis?) with Natural Variegation

A wood nettle, showing some green-and-white variegation on its leaves, illuminated by bright sunlight, on the forest floor

Jul 5th, 2012, by Alex Zorach

I am not 100% sure on the plant ID here, but I think this is a wood nettle (Laportea canadensis), a plant in the nettle family, with stinging hairs, native to Eastern North America.

I found this plant remarkable in that it shows natural variegation. This plant, to my knowledge, is not cultivated, for the reason that it has stinging hairs! So this variegation likely arose through a natural mutation. It is this same sort of mutation which produces the variegation in numerous horticultural varieties of plants commonly used in gardening and landscaping.

I found this plant growing in some woods on private property owned by the family of my girlfriend. It was growing in a bright gap in the forest, surrounded by numerous all-green nettles.