Healing Gardens

Fireweed

Family Name: Evening-primrose (3)

Family Name: Onagraceae (3)

Latin Name: Epilobium angustifolium

Common Name: Fireweed, Rosebay Willowherb (1:206)

Native American Names: Twana--spukWu’say (4)

Related Species: Genus Species

Body System Affiliations: Digestive System (A)

Botanical Description:

Habit: Open disturbed (3), Perennial (1:206)

Leaves: “Alternate, lance-shaped, stalkless, 5-20 cm long, green and often short-hairy above, paler, hairless and distinctly veined below, smooth-margined” (1:206)

Flowers: “Rose to purple, large (2-4 cm across), stalked; sepals 4; petals 4; stigma 4 lobed; several to many (more than 15) in a long cluster atop stem” (1:206)

Fruit: “Pod-like capsules, 4-9 cm long, narrow, green to red, 4 chambered, splitting open to disgorge hundreds of fluffy white seeds” (1:206)

Underground Parts: rhizome-like roots (1:206)

Ecology:

Habitat: “Moist to fairly dry disturbed areas, including meadows, thickets, on avalanche tracks, and along riverbars” (1:206)

Range: common throughout Pacific NW Coast, but only locally abundant on the outer coast (1:206)

References Cited:

 

1. Mackinnon, Andy, and Jim Pojar. Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Vancouver, British Columbia: Ministry of Forests and Lone Pine Publishing, 1994.

 

2. Hoffman, David. The Herbal Handbook: A User’s Guide to Medical Herbalism. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press, 1998.

 

3. Eloheimo, Marja. sayuyay Botanical Project: Educational Garden Plant List.

The Evergreen State College: Healing Gardens, 2006.

 

4. Eloheimo, Marja. sayuyay Garden SIGN List: April 2004. The Evergreen State

College: 2004.