Elatostema cuneatum

Elatostema cuneatum is a small herb in the nettle family, Urticaceae. It is native to parts of South and East Asia. Kew lists the Indian subcontinent, Korea, Indo-China, and Java. Useful Tropical Plants names Japan and southern China too. Kew places it in a subtropical climate. It also records an epiphytic habit. This means the plant can grow on other plants.

The plant grows in a clump of upright stems. These stems have no branches. Useful Tropical Plants gives heights of 0.08–0.82 feet [0.025–0.25 metres]. Its summary gives a height of 0.49 feet [0.15 metres]. Plants For A Future gives 0.66 feet [0.2 metres]. The sources differ on its life cycle. Useful Tropical Plants calls it a herbaceous perennial, a non-woody plant that lives for years. Plants For A Future calls it an annual, which lives for one year. It also suggests growing it in Britain as a spring-sown annual. These accounts give no clear size range for plants in gardens.

In Japan, it grows in shaded lowland sites. Records place it in northern and central parts of Japan. In southern Yunnan, it grows in valley forests and on cliffs. Those sites lie at 3,937–4,593 feet [1,200–1,400 metres]. These sites fit the shade needs that Plants For A Future lists. That source names light woodland shade and moist soil. Its growing notes accept sandy, loamy, and clay soils. The pH range it gives runs from mildly acid to mildly alkaline.

Plants For A Future records flowers from June to July. The species is dioecious: male and female flowers grow on separate plants. Grow both sexes if you need seed. Both garden sources list spring sowing where the plants will grow. Plants For A Future notes that it has few details on growing this plant. Its suggestion for British gardens is thus tentative, not firm. It lists dappled woodland shade as a garden setting. The evidence gives no firm frost tolerance or hardiness zone.

People gather leaves from wild plants for local food. Both garden sources describe cooking the young leaves before eating them. Plants For A Future gives the plant a low food-use rating. Neither source records uses as medicine or other practical uses. Plants For A Future reports no known hazards. This does not prove safety for pets or all human uses. The supplied accounts name no specific pest or disease problems.