It is an erect herbaceous perennial plant of 1-2 m tall  forming loose clumps of few  branched  stems from a creeping rhizome. The stems grow up to 2 m long and are covered with fiercely stinging hairs. The leaves are oblanceolate. Typical flower is in a urticaceaae. They are in spike shape.

 In Rwanda, Urtica massaica is used alone and in mixture with othersplant species to treat, bruises, injuries, fracture, venereal diseases, rheumatism and urethral leak.Leaves are used in curing  the high blood pressure,  and to sooth Diabete.Macerate roots and leaves are used to treat hepatic diseases. Uwimana Beatha, a TMP in the Southern province, Gisagara district uses Urtica masaica and Polygonum pulchrum Grewia similis, Mitragyne rubrostipulata, and Coryza sumatrensis in the treatment of urinaly tract infections. The Maassai  use it to treat stomachache. In Kenya, they use it to treat malaria. It serves also to treat  fractures and venereal diseases.

Edible leaves as vegetable. In Uganda the leaves are used as a repellent  against tats and for the protection of the crops from grazing cattle. The plant is highly rich in food value (protein carbohydrates.