Epilobium anagallidifolium |
Epilobium palustre |
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|---|---|---|
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alpine willow-herb, pimpernel willow-herb, épilobe à feuilles de mouron |
marsh willow-herb, marsh willowweed, swamp willowherb, épilobe palustre |
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| Habit | Herbs with spreading thin, small-leafed epigeous soboles to 5 cm. | Herbs with multiple filiform epigeous stolons with widely spaced, small leaves, terminating in condensed, dark, small turions 3–7 × 2–3 mm. |
| 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, loosely clustered, terete, 5–80 cm, simple to well branched, subglabrous on proximal internodes, sometimes with faint strigillose lines decurrent from margins of 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, subsessile; blade lanceolate or narrowly elliptic to sublinear, 1.5–7 × 0.2–1.9 cm, base cuneate, margins entire or inconspicuously denticulate, 2–6 teeth per side, veins inconspicuous, apex acute or acuminate, surfaces strigillose abaxially, subglabrous adaxially or strigillose only on margins and veins; bracts smaller and narrower. |
| Inflorescences | nodding in bud, later suberect, few-flowered racemes, subglabrous to sparsely strigillose and/or glandular puberulent. |
nodding in bud, later erect, racemes, not branched, densely strigillose, rarely mixed sparsely glandular puberulent. |
| 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 to spreading; buds 2–5 × 1.5–2.5 mm; pedicel 8–12 mm; floral tube 0.6–1.8 × 1.3–2.2 mm, ring of spreading hairs at mouth inside; sepals 1.4–4.5 × 0.8–1.5 mm, abaxial surface strigillose; petals usually white, rarely pink, 2–9 × 1.8–5 mm, obcordate, apical notch 0.6–1.6 mm; filaments cream or white, those of longer stamens 0.8–3.5 mm, those of shorter ones 0.4–2.1 mm; anthers 0.4–1 × 0.3–0.7 mm; ovary 12–35 mm, strigillose; style cream, 1.5–4.5 mm, stigma clavate to cylindrical, entire, 0.8–2 × 0.5–1.4 mm, usually surrounded by, rarely exserted beyond, anthers. |
| Capsules | slender, often reddish purple, 17–40(–55) mm, surfaces subglabrous or with scattered hairs; pedicel 5–35(–68) mm. |
straight or upcurved, 25–90 mm, surfaces strigillose; pedicel 15–35(–60) 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. |
elliptic, attenuate to narrowly fusiform, 1.4–2.2 × 0.4–0.5 mm, chalazal collar 0.1–0.25 mm, conspicuous, surface finely papillose; coma persistent, white, 5–7 mm. |
| 2n | = 36. |
= 36. |
Epilobium anagallidifolium |
Epilobium palustre |
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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. | Low, boggy areas, swamps, saturated stream banks, mossy meadows. |
| Elevation | 0–4500 m. [0–14800 ft.] | 0–1000(–2600) m. [0–3300(–8500) 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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AK; CA; CO; CT; MA; ME; MI; MN; MT; NH; NJ; NY; OR; PA; RI; SD; UT; VT; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NL; NS; NT; NU; ON; PE; QC; SK; YT; SPM; Greenland; n Eurasia; c Eurasia
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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 palustre is an extremely widespread circumboreal species that is relatively common from Alaska across Canada, especially around the Great Lakes to the Maritime provinces (mostly below 1000 m). This species is somewhat less common in the northeastern United States, and only scattered in the mountains of the western United States, south to California and Colorado (to 3000 m). It also occurs in ice-free regions of Greenland south of 70º north latitude, in northern and central Europe, across most of subarctic Russia to the Caucasus, the Himalaya complex, and eastern Asia, including Japan and the Russian Far East. Epilobium palustre shows considerable variation across its very wide distribution and, not surprisingly, distinctive local races, which sometimes have been named formally, including several from northeastern North America. Within series Palustriformes by C. Haussknecht (1884), M. L. Fernald (1944d) clarified much confusion in names at that time, clearly delineating and establishing the nomenclature of E. davuricum, E. leptophyllum, E. palustre, and E. densum. Fernald also recognized E. nesophilum (see discussion under 18. E. leptophyllum) and E. pylaieanum, the latter based on small plants of E. palustre from southern Newfoundland. Epilobium lineare Muhlenberg and E. palustre var. albiflorum Lehmann are illegitimate names that pertain here. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
| Parent taxa | ||
| Sibling taxa | ||
| Synonyms | E. alpinum, E. pseudoscaposum | Chamaenerion palustre, E. molle var. sabulonense, E. nesophilum var. lupulinum, E. nesophilum var. sabulonense, E. oliganthum, E. palustre var. albescens, E. palustre var. grammadophyllum, E. palustre var. lapponicum, E. palustre var. longirameum, E. palustre var. oliganthum, E. palustre var. sabulonense, E. pylaieanum, E. wyomingense |
| Name authority | Lamarck in J. Lamarck et al.: Encycl. 2: 376. (1786) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 348. (1753) |
| Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. |
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