EPILOBIUM HIRSUTUM

Family and Genus:- See- ONAGRACEAE/Sect. EPILOBIUM

Common Names:- Greater willowherb

Homotypic Synonyms:- Chamaenerion hirsutum, Epilobium hirsutum subsp.

grandiflorum.

Meaning:- Epilobium (L) A name used by Gesner the Swiss physician and

naturalist. to indicate the position of the corolla above the ovary.

Hirsutum (L) Roughly hairy, covered in long hairs.

General description:- Robust, softly hairy, tall perennial.

Stolons:-

1) Hypogeal, fleshy.

Stems:-

1) 50-150 cm tall, erect, robust, moderately branched.

Leaves:-

1) Opposite, sometimes or verticillate, at least below, 2-12 x 0·5-3·5 cm, sessile,

semi-amplexicaul, oblong-lanceolate, shallowly serrate with curved teeth.

Flowers:-

1) In short racemes. Actino-morphic.

2) Bright purplish-pink, 15-25 mm, borne in a leafy raceme.

3) Petals, notched; stigma 4-lobed. bracts leaf-like, alternate.

4) Stigma, distinctly 4-lobed.

Fruit:-

1) Seeds, c. 0.8 mm, obovoid.

Key features:-

1) Leaves opposite or verticillate, at least below, sessile or subsessile, semi-

amplexicaul.

2) Flowers, actino-morphic, the style very rarely deflexed.

3) Stigma, distinctly 4-lobed.

4) Stems, patent-pubescent.

5) Petals, usually more than 10 mm.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Marshes, streambanks, gorges, wet road embankments, ditches in

agricutural areas. 0-1200 m.

Distribution:- Throughout Greece. - A widespread Euro-Siberian species, also

much of Africa. Scattered across Crete mainly central west and west.

Flowering time:- (Apr-)May-Sept.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton