Epilobium saximontanum |
Epilobium anagallidifolium |
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glandular willowherb, Rocky Mountain willowherb, Rocky Mountain willowweed, épilobe des rocheuses |
alpine willow-herb, pimpernel willow-herb, épilobe à feuilles de mouron |
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Habit | Herbs usually with sessile, fleshy, underground turions, or sometimes thick, elongated shoots with dark, decussate scales. | Herbs with spreading thin, small-leafed epigeous soboles to 5 cm. |
Stems | erect, strict, terete, 4–55 cm, simple or well branched in age, subglabrous proximally to mixed strigillose and glandular puberulent distally, with raised strigillose lines decurrent from margins of petioles. |
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. |
Leaves | opposite proximal to inflorescence, alternate and reduced distally, often ± appressed, usually subsessile, rarely petiole 1–3 mm, often clasping; blade obovate proximally to ovate, lanceolate, or narrowly elliptic distally, 1–5.5(–6.5) × 0.4–2(–2.4) cm, base rounded or obtuse, margins low denticulate, 9–30 teeth per side, veins ± conspicuous, 3–6 per side, apex subacute, surfaces subglabrous with strigillose margins; bracts much reduced. |
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. |
Inflorescences | erect, sometimes nodding in bud, racemes, sometimes sparsely branched. |
nodding in bud, later suberect, few-flowered racemes, subglabrous to sparsely strigillose and/or glandular puberulent. |
Flowers | erect; buds 2–3.5 × 1.8–2.5 mm; pedicel 0–1 mm; floral tube 0.8–1.4 × 0.8–1.9 mm, ring of sparse spreading hairs at mouth inside; sepals sometimes flushed red, 1.2–3.5 × 0.6–1.4 mm, abaxial surface strigillose and sometimes mixed glandular puberulent; petals usually white, infrequently pink, 2.2–5(–7) × 1.7–3.2 mm, apical notch 0.4–1.5 mm; filaments usually cream, rarely light pink, those of longer stamens 2–3.5 mm, those of shorter ones 1–2 mm; anthers cream to light yellow, 0.3–0.8 × 0.3–0.5 mm; ovary 9–30 mm, densely strigillose and glandular puberulent; style cream or yellow, 1.6–2.8 mm, stigma usually narrowly to broadly clavate, rarely subcapitate, 1–3 × 0.8–2 mm, surrounded by at least longer anthers. |
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. |
Capsules | 30–55(–70) mm, surfaces mixed strigillose and glandular puberulent; usually subsessile, rarely pedicel 1–5 mm, often appressed to stem. |
slender, often reddish purple, 17–40(–55) mm, surfaces subglabrous or with scattered hairs; pedicel 5–35(–68) mm. |
Seeds | very narrowly obovoid, 1–1.6(–1.8) × 0.4–0.6 mm, chalazal collar 0.1–0.2 mm, light brown or gray, surface rugose to papillose; coma usually readily detached, white, 3–9 mm. |
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. |
2n | = 36. |
= 36. |
Epilobium saximontanum |
Epilobium anagallidifolium |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Sep. | Flowering Jun–Sep. |
Habitat | Montane semi-shaded stream banks, damp meadows, mossy seeps, wet slatey cliffs, disturbed or seasonally damp areas. | Moist flats, stream banks, subarctic coastal marsh edges, high montane and alpine meadows and seeps. |
Elevation | 0–3700 m. (0–12100 ft.) | 0–4500 m. (0–14800 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; SD; UT; WY; AB; BC; MB; NF; ON; QC
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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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Discussion | Epilobium saximontanum is morphologically similar to E. ciliatum (especially subsp. glandulosum) with which it also shares the AA chromosome arrangement. However, in addition to its fleshy compact turions, it very characteristically has notably appressed capsules, unlike most other species in the genus, and a notably strict habit. The distribution of Epilobium saximontanum is unusual; it includes the Rocky Mountain region, only barely reaching the high southern Sierra Nevada, disjunct to the Black Hills of South Dakota, and more widely in eastern Canada, from the shores of Hudson Bay to Newfoundland. Specimens are fairly uniform across this wide and rather discontinuous range, although locally they show some variability, possibly due to hybridization with any of several species that may be sympatric with it. H. Lewis and D. M. Moore (1962) reported hybrids between E. saximontanum (cited as E. brevistylum) and E. ciliatum subsp. ciliatum (cited as E. adenocaulon) from Colorado, and herbarium specimens with E. saximontanum and apparent hybrids are not uncommon. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. |
Parent taxa | Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Epilobieae > Epilobium > sect. Epilobium | Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Epilobieae > Epilobium > sect. Epilobium |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | E. adenocaulon subsp. rubescens, E. drummondii, E. drummondii var. latiusculum, E. latiusculum, E. ovatifolium, E. rubescens, E. scalare, E. stramineum | E. alpinum, E. pseudoscaposum |
Name authority | Haussknecht: Oesterr. Bot. Z. 29: 119. (1879) | Lamarck in J. Lamarck et al.: Encycl. 2: 376. (1786) |
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