Fireweed flowers and its types with a photo

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Fireweed (Epilobium) is a genus of herbaceous and semi-shrub plants of the fireweed family (Onagraceae), common in the temperate and cold zones of both hemispheres. Some species are edible, others are used for medicinal and decorative purposes.

  • Family: fireweed.
  • Homeland: extratropical zones of all continents.
  • Rhizome: creeping, thickened.
  • Stem: simple or branched.
  • Leaves: simple, elongated.
  • Fruit: four-sided box.
  • Reproductive ability: propagation by seeds or division of rhizomes.
  • Illumination: photophilous, tolerates some shading.
  • Watering: moisture-loving.
  • Content temperature: winter-hardy.
  • Flowering time: June to September.

Fireweed plant and its flower in the photo

Representatives of the genus are herbs and shrubs with straight or creeping stems and whole, usually oblong, opposite or scattered leaves. Fireweed flowers are quite large, pink or purple, collected in a racemose or spike-shaped inflorescence, bloom in the axils of the leaves or on the tops of the shoots. The fruits are long four-sided capsules that burst starting from the top, releasing many small seeds into the air. Each seed is equipped with a kind of “parachute” of long hairy appendages and is easily carried by the wind, which, combined with the ability to remain germinating in the ground for a long time, gives the fireweed flower a certain advantage when spreading to new territories.

At the base of the stems there are often underground or above ground stolons of fleshy overwintering buds that serve for vegetative propagation of the plant. Fireweeds form continuous thickets in damp places, along the banks of rivers and streams, in forests, in flood meadows, as well as in clearings and areas burned out after forest fires. It is interesting that where the narrow-leaved fireweed, which is widespread in our forests, grows, the air temperature is usually several degrees higher than in the surrounding area. This is due to its rare biological feature to release a significant amount of heat during flowering, thanks to which the flower not only protects itself from frost, but also creates a favorable microclimate for young growth of trees growing in places of fires, contributing to the rapid restoration of the forest.

The habitat of culture is quite wide. Of its two hundred species, about eighty are found in the forests and mountain belt of Eurasia, forty-five in North America, a number of varieties in New Zealand and Australia.

Fireweed narrow-leaved and small-flowered with photo

On the territory of Russia, in the forest belt and foothills, about sixty species of fireweed grow. Many of them are common inhabitants of our forests and swamps, some are valued as honey plants and medicinal plants, some forms are grown in ornamental gardens. Below are descriptions and photos of fireweeds, the most famous in our country.

Fireweed narrow-leaved (E. angustifolium) , also known as Ivan-tea, Koporsky tea or Russian tea, is a perennial with straight or slightly branched juicy stems 70-200 cm high and narrow-lanceolate pointed leaves, short-leaved, almost sessile, with clearly defined veins.

Differs in thick, branched into numerous shoots, creeping rhizome, reaching 1 m in length, sweetish in taste and considered edible. In June-August, large, wide-open, purple-pink flowers bloom on the tops of the shoots, collected in a loose, long, up to 40 cm, conical brush.

Fruits, fluffy pod-shaped boxes up to 8 cm long with small seeds, ripen in August-September. The species grows throughout the country, found in clearings, forest edges, burnt areas, and drained peat bogs. This forest fireweed is considered one of the best honey plants, from 1 hectare of its plantings you can get up to 600 kg of transparent, light green, after crystallization, almost white honey, which, despite the almost complete absence of taste and aroma, has many healing qualities.

The culture is used as a fodder plant, fireweed of this species is readily eaten by livestock both on pasture and in the form of silage. The herb is used in folk medicine as a wound-healing, anti-inflammatory and sedative; a traditional drink, the so-called “Koporsky tea”, has long been prepared from fermented leaves in Russia.

Small-flowered fireweed (E. parviflorum Schreb) is a perennial plant with straight, simple or slightly branched stems, pubescent with soft protruding hairs, 15 to 60 cm high.

Leaves, ovate-elliptic or lanceolate, slightly serrated along the edge, with a pointed end and soft felt pubescence, in the basal rosette – petiolate, opposite, on the stem – sessile, alternate. The flowers are small, light purple or pale pink, with four heart-shaped petals up to 8 mm long, collected in a loose terminal raceme. They bloom from July to September, during the same period fruits are formed. The species is widespread in Europe and Asia, preferring damp places along the banks of rivers and ditches, in swamps and peat bogs, and in wastelands. Valued as a medicinal plant, it is considered a good remedy for diseases of the prostate and bladder. Below is a photo of small-flowered fireweed.

Where does marsh and forest fireweed grow (with photo)

Marsh fireweed (E. palustre L.) is a perennial species with a short rhizome and straight pubescent trunks from 10 to 80 cm high, at the base of which thin small-leaved creeping stolon shoots are formed, forming fleshy bulbs at the ends by autumn.

Leaves, sessile, linear, with rounded ends and slight pubescence, located oppositely in the lower part of the stem, alternately in the upper part. Small, pale pink or white flowers, initially drooping, with petals 5-8 mm long, bloom in the axils of the apical leaves.

The appearance of the plant is shown in the photo.

Fireweed marsh is distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere, lives in swamps, along the banks of reservoirs, in water meadows. The herb has antimicrobial and sedative properties, in folk medicine it is recommended for insomnia and various skin diseases.

For decorative purposes, compact species are grown:

Alpine fireweed (E. alpinum) – a miniature, up to 15 cm tall, plant with a branched filamentous rhizome, numerous pubescent stems and small pink flowers, lives in nature in the northern regions of Russia.

Fireweed glaberrium (E. glaberrimum) – a North American alpine species with blue-green leaves and pink, red or white flowers, forms curtains or mats from 10 to 90 cm high, there is a form with pale yellow flowers.

Fireweed (E. glandulosum Lehmann) lives in damp places in northern Russia and the USA from the Sierra Nevada to Washington, on straight stems 30-90 cm high, medium-sized white-pink flowers bloom all summer, the ovaries are covered with glandular hairs.

Broad- leaved fireweed (E. latifolium) – a resident of alpine and pre-alpine meadows and rocky slopes of North America, is distinguished by a rapidly growing rhizome, creeping stems up to 60 cm long and pink flowers up to 2.5 cm in diameter.

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