Abstract
SummaryAn extreme genetic variant of Urtica dioica L. (stinging nettle), differing from the common plant in its paucity of stinging hairs, tall unbranched growth form, long narrow leaves and late flowering, occurs in large numbers at Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire, England. Evidence from experimental cultivation of plants collected as adults and as seed along a transect across and beyond the boundaries of Wicken Sedge Fen suggests that: Significant gene flow into the Sedge Fen occurs by both seed and pollen transport. Pollen flow has significant within‐population effects also, acting to even out variation expressed in the adult generation. Patterns of variability in adults do not indicate that natural selection is acting to limit the range of variability contained in the seed population. Selection may, however, be occurring, since for this long‐lived perennial, patterns of variability may be more related to historical factors than to current ones.
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