Epilobium anagallidifolium |
Epilobium glaberrimum |
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alpine willow-herb, pimpernel willow-herb, épilobe à feuilles de mouron |
glaucous willowherb, glaucus willowherb, smooth willowherb |
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| Habit | Herbs with spreading thin, small-leafed epigeous soboles to 5 cm. | Herbs with branching, wiry basal shoots with crowded, often dark, scales. | ||||
| 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. |
many, erect or ascending, often densely clumped, slender, terete, 5–75(–85) cm, simple or distally branched, glabrous and glaucous, sometimes strigillose and/or mixed glandular puberulent distally, rarely with faint raised strigillose lines decurrent from margins of distal petioles. |
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| 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 and crowded proximal to inflorescence, alternate and widely spaced distally, subsessile and ± clasping; blade light green or blue-green, very narrowly lanceolate to narrowly ovate or elliptic, (0.5–)1–7.2 × (0.3–)0.5–1.8 cm, base cuneate, margins subentire or faintly denticulate, 8–15 teeth per side, veins inconspicuous, 3–6 per side, apex obtuse proximally to acute distally, glabrous and glaucous; bracts much reduced and narrower. |
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| Inflorescences | nodding in bud, later suberect, few-flowered racemes, subglabrous to sparsely strigillose and/or glandular puberulent. |
erect racemes, glabrous or ± sparsely glandular puberulent, sometimes mixed strigillose. |
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| 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 2.5–5 × 2–3.5 mm; pedicel 2–11(–20) mm; floral tube 0.7–2.3 × 1–2.5 mm, ring of spreading hairs at mouth inside or without a ring; sepals often red-tipped, sometimes keeled, 2.5–7.5 × 0.8–2 mm, abaxial surface glabrous or strigillose and/or glandular puberulent; petals usually light pink to rose-purple, rarely white, 3.4–10(–12) × 1.8–5 mm, apical notch 0.5–3 mm; filaments purple to white or cream, those of longer stamens 2.4–5(–6) mm, those of shorter ones 1.4–4 mm; anthers light yellow, 0.5–1.2(–1.5) × 0.3–0.7 mm; ovary 10–42 mm, subglabrous to sparsely mixed strigillose and glandular puberulent; style light yellow or cream, 1.7–5(–7) mm, stigma clavate to subcapitate, 0.8–3 × 0.5–1.2 mm, usually surrounded by, rarely exserted beyond, longer anthers. |
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| Capsules | slender, often reddish purple, 17–40(–55) mm, surfaces subglabrous or with scattered hairs; pedicel 5–35(–68) mm. |
15–75 mm, with small protuberance at base, surfaces subglabrous to sparsely mixed strigillose and glandular puberulent; pedicel 5–18(–25) mm. |
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| 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 obovoid, 0.7–1(–1.3) × 0.3–0.5 mm, chalazal collar inconspicuous, light brown or gray, surface coarsely papillose in longitudinal rows; coma readily detached, white, 4–9 mm. |
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| 2n | = 36. |
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Epilobium anagallidifolium |
Epilobium glaberrimum |
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| Phenology | Flowering Jun–Sep. | |||||
| Habitat | Moist flats, stream banks, subarctic coastal marsh edges, high montane and alpine meadows and seeps. | |||||
| Elevation | 0–4500 m. [0–14800 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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w North America; nw Mexico
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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.) |
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora). Epilobium glaberrimum is restricted mainly to the Sierra Nevada-Cascade region, but also (subsp. fastigiatum) in the northern Rocky Mountains. It is one of the more easily identified species due to its consistently glabrous and glaucous aspect. Although the distributions and elevational ranges of the two subspecies appear to overlap extensively, they are largely allopatric with subsp. glaberrimum occurring in lower to mid montane zones and subsp. fastigiatum in upper montane to subalpine zones in the southern part of its range, and in lower zones farther north. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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| Key |
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| Synonyms | E. alpinum, E. pseudoscaposum | E. fastigiatum var. glaberrimum | ||||
| Name authority | Lamarck in J. Lamarck et al.: Encycl. 2: 376. (1786) | Barbey in W. H. Brewer et al.: Bot. California 1: 220. (1876) | ||||
| Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. | ||||
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