I think it's a nettle, but I wouldn't put money on it.

Not nettle. More likely Pilea pumila. I’ve never seen it in person tho, and there are a few look-alikes.

Yes agree with mac. It is a weed so feel free to get rid of it.

dbarron it is in the nettle family.

Yes, your plant is Pilea pumila. This Missouri Wildflowers Page might be helpful.

Native plant folks like it, but I would just as soon not have it in the garden.

Thanks all. I’ll do a little research, then settle on a course of action. It’s kind of pretty and it‘s pretty much in the woods. Do deer eat it? We had tons of jewelweed similarly situated In the woods (where I’d previously pulled up boat loads of garlic mustard) and all summer it had done a terrific job suppressing the more obnoxious weeds. When it began to bloom a month or so ago, the deer went to town and denuded virtually every stalk (along with a couple of things they’d left alone all summer). Now I have a bunch of invasives reestablishing themselves amid long stretches of naked stalks. If the deer don’t like Pilea pumila and it helps suppress other weeds I might let it remain in a couple of spots.

It's not a weed and it looks better than clone gardener groundcovers like the non native Pachysandra!

It is an annual, however, so there will always be exposed soil early in the season so I don’t know how good a weed suppressant it is. If you like it and it’s in the woods, if it fulfills the job you want it to fulfill, go for it. It will reseed well IME.

Another reason to let some grow is, it's a larval host plant for some nice butterflies. Red Admirals, Commas, Question Marks, and more.

The green racimes growing from the stems are the flowers. Nettles don't have showy flowers, and most like this species have separate male and female flowers. I grow them especially for the butterflies.

Indeed! My patches seem to be holding their own against Japanese sliltweed which is everywhere. I think that’s pretty impressive. Jay 6a, is your groundcover solely the result of annual reseeding? I got the impression from a quick internet search that it likes certain conditions - perhaps that will keep it reasonably in check. It’s definitely not ubiquitous. I mentioned that I noticed it for the first time only recently. It could be that it’s always been there in spots and it just didn’t register or this season‘s weather conditions combined with my having removed tons of garlic mustard resulted in a higher germination rate. NHBabs, some bare ground early in the season is fine - it’s fun to see the spring ephemerals and bulbs emerge. Also an evergreen groundcover would just get eaten. In general, even though I would love to cultivate more evergreen shrubs, plants and trees, on my property plants that drop their leaves early suffer less damage. What remains to be seen is whether the deer are going to make Pilea pumlia their next meal. For the sake of the butterflies, I hope not!

I love the idea of native plant ground covers. Now that Pilea pumila is on my radar, I’ve seen it in lots of spots and have taken care not to pull it out amongst the bales of Japanese stilt weed I’ve been yanking up. Is there any particular technique to collecting the seeds?

Earlier this summer I requested an ID for a plant that popped up in a friend‘s garden which turned out to be Circaea lutetiana (Enchanter’s nightshade). Not appropriate for her gardens, but I thought it could work for me and promptly forgot about it. Then about a month ago, I noticed C. lutetiana on my property and will be consolidating them to create drifts, if they tolerate being transplanted. I thought they’d look pretty cool, but when I was walking through Central Park the other day I came across this huge stand which confirmed that they do. This not for everyone, but I think it’s stunning. And the deer at my place seem to be ignoring it.

I believe your latest picture shows Hackelia virginiana, not Circaea lutetiana. Compare it with the plant in your other post. I think you'll see they're different. https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5756200/a-zone-5b-mystery

Google images of the flowers of the two species to be sure.

Don't walk through them. Some of the worst bursts ever! The seeds are pretty when on the plants.

Thanks Floral, I’ll do that, then compare to the plants in my yard the next time I’m there. That’s what I get for relying on memory, but since plants can look different in different stages of growth (and environment?), I probably would have come to the same conclusion, even if I had referred back to my original post. I don’t know how you all keep this stuff straight. The name beggars lice doesn’t bode well, but I like it just the same. Jay, I hear you and had been avoiding the burrs from the start. We don’t have pets and no one (but me) goes into the areas where they tend to grow, so they’re not an incredible nuisance.

Thanks!