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Epilobium ciliatum

Plant species in the willowherb family

Summary

Plant species in the willowherb family

Epilobium ciliatum, known by the common names fringed willowherb, American willowherb, slender willow herb, and northern willow herb is a species of flowering plant in the willowherb family Onagraceae. This species is native to much of North America, southern South America, and East Asia. It is an introduced species in much of Eurasia and Australia.

This perennial herbaceous plant usually occurs in wetlands, but may be found in a great variety of habitats, including disturbed areas and roadsides, at elevations below 1400 m.

Description

Epilobium ciliatum is a clumping perennial often exceeding 1.5 m in height. It has thickly veined lance-shaped leaves which may be up to 15 centimeters long toward the base of the plant. The foliage, stem, and inflorescence are covered in bristly hairs and glands.

There are four sepals. The regular, trumpet-shaped flowers have four petals which are so deeply notched they look like four pairs. They are white to light purple or pink with dark veining. There are eight stamens and a club-shaped stigma. The fruit is a narrow, hairy, four-chambered capsule up to 10 centimeters in length which may be held on a long stalk. The seeds are downy and can float for long distances with the wind.

Subspecies

Three subspecies are currently recognized:

Epilobium ciliatum ssp. ciliatum
Epilobium ciliatum ssp. glandulosum — (Lehm.) Hoch & P.H.Raven
Epilobium ciliatum ssp. watsonii — (Barbey) Hoch & P.H.Raven

Taxonomy

Epilobium ciliatum may be a cryptic species complex. The Rocky Mountain Willowherb (Epilobium saximontanum) is sometimes included as yet another subspecies.

The three currently recognized subspecies may each constitute a distinct species. If so, E. ciliatum ssp. watsonii would perhaps use the name E. adenocaulon and include those populations, while E. ciliatum ssp. glandulosum would perhaps use the name E. bergianum and include those populations. The others named E. ciliatum ssp. ciliatum populations would remain.

Distribution and habitat

Epilobium ciliatum is native to the southern part of Canada and most of the United States of America. It is a plant of moist places, stream-sides, ditches, ponds, gardens, roadsides, recently cleared areas and wasteland.

Invasiveness

It arrived in northern Europe early in the 20th century and spread rapidly, reaching Finland in about 1920. It reached Slovenia by 1993 and Zagorje, Croatia by 2001. In Europe, Epilobium ciliatum competes with and is often found together with Epilobium roseum, which prefers a similar habitat.

References

Bibliography

References

(2 May 2025). "''Epilobium ciliatum''".
"''Epilobium ciliatum'' Raf.".
"''Epilobium ciliatum'' subsp. ''ciliatum''".
"''Epilobium ciliatum'' subsp. ''glandulosum'' (Lehm.) Hoch & P.H.Raven".
"''Epilobium ciliatum'' subsp. ''watsonii'' (Barbey) Hoch & P.H.Raven".
{{PLANTS
{{BSBI 2007
"Jepson Flora Project:Onagraceae".
"Northern Willow Herb, Epilobium ciliatum".
"American Willowherb". NatureGate.
[http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?5263,5410,5417,5418 Jepson: ''Epilobium ciliatum'' ssp. ''ciliatum'']
[https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=EPCIC USDA: ''Epilobium ciliatum'' ssp. ''ciliatum'']
[http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?5263,5410,5417,5419 Jepson: ''Epilobium ciliatum'' ssp. ''glandulosum'']
[https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=EPCIG USDA: ''Epilobium ciliatum'' ssp. ''glandulosum'']
[http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?5263,5410,5417,5420 Jepson: ''Epilobium ciliatum'' ssp. ''watsonii'']
[https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=EPCIW USDA:''Epilobium ciliatum'' ssp. ''watsonii'']

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

epilobium flora-of-northern-america flora-of-southern-south-america flora-of-temperate-asia flora-of-the-california-desert-regions taxa-named-by-constantine-samuel-rafinesque flora-without-expected-tnc-conservation-status

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