Epilobium anagallidifolium |
Epilobium coloratum |
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|---|---|---|
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alpine willow-herb, pimpernel willow-herb, épilobe à feuilles de mouron |
eastern willow-herb, purple-leaf willowherb |
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| Habit | Herbs with spreading thin, small-leafed epigeous soboles to 5 cm. | Herbs often robust and rank, with sessile or short-stalked leafy basal rosettes and dense fibrous roots. |
| Stems | many, ascending, often sigmoidally bent, nodding distally, later erect, clumped or mat-forming, terete, 3–20(–25) cm, simple, subglabrous, sometimes with faint raised strigillose lines decurrent from margins of petioles, rarely mixed strigillose and sparsely glandular puberulent distally. |
erect, subterete, (20–)40–85(–120) cm, freely branched distally, subglabrous proximal to inflorescence, often with raised strigillose lines decurrent from petioles, densely strigillose distally. |
| Leaves | opposite and crowded proximal to inflorescence, alternate distally, petioles 1–6 mm, rarely subsessile distally; blade spatulate to oblong proximally, elliptic to narrowly lanceolate or sublinear distally, (0.5–)0.8–2.5 × 0.3–1 cm, base attenuate to cuneate, margins subentire proximally, sparsely denticulate distally with 2–5 low teeth per side, veins obscure, 2–4 per side, apex obtuse or rounded proximally to subacute distally, surfaces subglabrous; bracts reduced, usually much narrower. |
opposite proximal to inflorescence, alternate distally, petiole 4–10 mm; blade narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate or narrowly elliptic, 3–10(–15) × 0.5–3 cm, subequal to internodes, base rounded to cuneate, margins sharply and irregularly serrulate, 30–75 teeth per side, veins prominent, often raised abaxially, 10–25 per side, apex acute or acuminate, surfaces subglabrous with strigillose margins and abaxial veins; bracts abruptly reduced. |
| Inflorescences | nodding in bud, later suberect, few-flowered racemes, subglabrous to sparsely strigillose and/or glandular puberulent. |
usually upright panicles, sometimes corymbiform, rarely racemes, densely strigillose. |
| Flowers | suberect; buds 2–5 × 1–2 mm; pedicel 1–6(–15) mm; floral tube 0.6–1.2 × 0.8–1.8 mm, slightly raised subglabrous ring at mouth inside; sepals green to reddish purple, 1.5–5 × 0.6–1.5 mm, abaxial surface subglabrous to sparsely glandular; petals usually pink to rose-purple, rarely white, narrowly obcordate, (1.7–)2.5–6.5(–8) × 1.6–3.5 mm, apical notch 0.5–1.2 mm; filaments cream to light pink, those of longer stamens 1.4–3.2 mm, those of shorter ones 0.7–2 mm; anthers 0.3–0.6 × 0.2–0.4 mm; ovary often reddish purple, 6–20 mm, subglabrous or sparsely strigillose and glandular puberulent; style white, 1.2–2.5 mm, glabrous, stigma broadly clavate to subcapitate, entire, 0.9–1.5 × 0.4–0.7 mm, surrounded by longer anthers. |
erect; buds 2–3 × 1.5–2.5 mm; pedicel 5–10 mm; floral tube 0.3–0.6 × 0.3–0.5 mm, raised ring of sparse spreading hairs at mouth inside; sepals 1.3–3.2 × 0.5–1.5 mm, abaxial surface strigillose; petals white, 2.5–5.5 × 2–3.8 mm, apical notch 0.5–1 mm; filaments white, those of longer stamens 1.8–2.5 mm, those of shorter ones 1.5–2 mm; anthers pale yellow, 0.3–0.4 × 0.2–0.4 mm; ovary 15–30 mm, ± densely strigillose; style erect, white, 1.5–2.8 mm, glabrous, stigma cylindrical to subcapitate, entire, 1–1.5 × 0.8–1.2 mm, surrounded by longer anthers. |
| Capsules | slender, often reddish purple, 17–40(–55) mm, surfaces subglabrous or with scattered hairs; pedicel 5–35(–68) mm. |
40–65 mm, surfaces strigillose; pedicel 8–12 mm. |
| Seeds | narrowly obovoid, 0.7–1.4 × 0.3–0.5 mm, inconspicuous chalazal collar 0.1–0.2 mm wide, light brown, surface reticulate (smooth); coma persistent, dull white, 2–4 mm. |
narrowly oblanceoloid, 1.2–1.7 × 0.3–0.5 mm, abruptly rounded with very short chalazal neck, brownish gray, surface evenly papillose; coma not easily detached, cinnamon red, 8–12 mm. |
| 2n | = 36. |
= 36. |
Epilobium anagallidifolium |
Epilobium coloratum |
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| Phenology | Flowering Jun–Sep. | Flowering Jul–Sep. |
| Habitat | Moist flats, stream banks, subarctic coastal marsh edges, high montane and alpine meadows and seeps. | Saturated swampy areas, stream banks in lowland forests, wet ditches, open, disturbed wetlands, secondary floodplain forests. |
| Elevation | 0–4500 m. [0–14800 ft.] | 0–500(–1500) m. [0–1600(–4900) ft.] |
| Distribution |
AK; CA; CO; ID; ME; MT; NH; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; NL; NT; NU; QC; YT; Greenland; Eurasia
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AL; AR; AZ; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; NB; NF; NS; ON; QC; West Indies (Dominican Republic, Haiti)
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| Discussion | Epilobium anagallidifolium is widely but sparsely distributed in high montane-alpine and subarctic Eurasia, including Europe, Russia, China, and Japan. Epilobium anagallidifolium usually forms low clumps or mats, with stems nodding in bud and usually subglabrous below the inflorescence. Many collections of E. anagallidifolium from eastern Canada and Greenland tend to be unusually tall (to 25 cm) and robust for the species, with somewhat larger, thicker leaves, and longer pedicels (to 60 mm). Similarly large and robust specimens occur scattered in Yukon and Washington, and may result from occasional hybridization and introgression with sympatric species such as E. hornemannii or E. lactiflorum, which also have the CC chromosomal arrangement. In an analysis of Fennoscandian populations of the Alpinae group, I. Kytövuori (1972) found a similar pattern of mostly smaller, sigmoidal plants of E. anagallidifolium with a small proportion of larger ones, and he also suggested the possibility of hybridization and/or introgression. Plants of Epilobium anagallidifolium, and indeed of the whole Alpinae group, from Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands) of British Columbia (J. A. Calder and R. L. Taylor 1968), are particularly distinctive compared to those on the mainland, and difficult to interpret. The observed differences may be the result of hybridization with other sympatric species or a response to unique ecological conditions on the islands, reinforced by relative isolation from mainland British Columbia. The Linnaean name Epilobium alpinum has long been a source of nomenclatural confusion and instability, since it circumscribed at least four distinct species, especially E. anagallidifolium. A proposal by P. C. Hoch et al. (1995) to permanently reject the name E. alpinum Linnaeus was approved. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Epilobium coloratum is highly unusual in having a distribution primarily in southeastern North America. In its overall morphology, particularly leaves and flowers, it more closely resembles European species such as E. obscurum Schreber or E. tetragonum Linnaeus than any other North American species, and shares with the European species the widespread BB chromosome arrangement. There is a general resemblance between E. coloratum and the very widespread E. ciliatum (AA chromosome arrangement); hybrids between these species, known as E. ×wisconsinense Ugent, are highly sterile due to different chromosome arrangements in the parental species. The true affinities of E. coloratum are uncertain. Its occurrence on Hispaniola is also unique and possibly due to a recent introduction. Prior to 1950, all major treatments of Epilobium attributed the name of E. coloratum to Muhlenberg (as E. coloratum Muhlenberg ex Wildenow), including C. Haussknecht (1884), W. Trelease (1891), and others. However, M. L. Fernald (1945d) noted that Index Kewensis had overlooked the 1807 publication by Biehler and virtually all treatments since that time follow the interpretation by Fernald. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
| Parent taxa | ||
| Sibling taxa | ||
| Synonyms | E. alpinum, E. pseudoscaposum | E. coloratum var. tenuifolium, E. domingense |
| Name authority | Lamarck in J. Lamarck et al.: Encycl. 2: 376. (1786) | Biehler: Pl. Nov. Herb. Spreng., 18. (1807) |
| Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. |
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