A visit to the Linnean Garden in the Tulsa Botanic Garden is the only time I have ever seen this beautiful plant. The one I saw was only about 2x2 feet… but its foliage let it stand out beautifully in the light shade garden in which it lived.
It is a remarkable plant… with a fascinating history and daunting physical attributes. Here is what I have learned about Boehmeria:
• It is native to southern China and the Himalayas of Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal
• It was best known for providing a textile fiber of excellent strength and quality from the inner bark of the stems. The fibers tensile strength is 7 times that of silk and 8 times that of cotton. It was chiefly used for textile production… often blended with cotton.
• It was used to make "Mummy" cloth in Egypt in 5000 – 3000 BCE.
• It has had limited acceptance for textile use in the U.S.
• The genus name honors George Rudolf Boehmer [1723-1803]… a professor of botany and
anatomy in Wittenberg, Germany.
• The Japanese name 'Kogane Mushi' means "Gold Bug."
• Ornamentally it makes a dazzling foliage plant for the part shade garden. Small, fuzzy, round leaves emerge creamy yellow and become flecked with green as they mature. The underside of the leaves are white tomentose.
• It grows best in rich, fertile, warm, well-drained sandy soils in part shade. It is intolerant of wet soils.

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