Flora-Fauna

Epilobium angustifolium L.

(First published in Sp. Pl.: 347 (1753); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CCXLV nº 1; 1970, syn. Chamaenerion angustifolium (L.) Scop., E. spicatum Lam.)

• Life-form & habit : Robust perennial herb, often colonial, with a rhizome producing long creeping stolons or pseudorhizomes; stems erect, rigid, usually simple or little branched, 60–120 cm tall in Mouterde, sometimes taller in broader floristic descriptions; glabrous to nearly glabrous, leafy throughout.

• Leaves : Leaves alternate and irregularly arranged, subsessile, narrowly lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, entire or obscurely glandular-denticulate, willow-like in aspect; blade with a strong midrib and fine lateral venation, the secondary veins often joining near the margin to form an intramarginal vein.

• Inflorescence & flowers : Flowers in a well-furnished terminal raceme, leafy only near the base, opening progressively upward; flower buds deflexed; calyx not exceeding the ovary; petals slightly zygomorphic and unequal, vivid pink to magenta, obovate, shortly clawed, 1 cm or more long; anthers oblong; style exceeding the anthers and ending in four distinct stigmatic lobes.

• Fruit : Capsule linear, erect, dehiscing longitudinally from the apex; seeds numerous, brown, acuminate, smooth, 1–1.5 mm long, each with a coma of silky hairs aiding wind dispersal.

• Phenology : Flowers from June to September.

• Habitat & elevation : Non-calcareous ground near water points; recorded by Mouterde on wet sandstone in the middle mountain belt and in high mountain sites. Across its wider range it is characteristic of open, moist or disturbed habitats, including meadows, forest clearings, river bars and burned or otherwise disturbed ground.

• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from wet sandstone near the Col de Zahlé, and from ‘Aïn-el-Qarn above Ehden.

• Native range : Afghanistan, Alaska, Albania, Alberta, Aleutian Is., Altay, Amur, Arizona, Arkansas, Assam, Austria, Baltic States, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, British Columbia, Bulgaria, Buryatiya, California, Central European Russia, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Colorado, Connecticut, Corse, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, Delaware, Denmark, District of Columbia, East European Russia, East Himalaya, Finland, France, Føroyar, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Inner Mongolia, Iowa, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Irkutsk, Italy, Japan, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Kirgizstan, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Krym, Kuril Is., Labrador, Lebanon-Syria, Magadan, Maine, Manchuria, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Northeast, Michigan, Minnesota, Mongolia, Montana, Morocco, Myanmar, Nebraska, Nepal, Netherlands, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Newfoundland, North Carolina, North Caucasus, North Dakota, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Northwest Territories, Norway, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, NW. Balkan Pen., Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pakistan, Pennsylvania, Poland, Primorye, Prince Edward I., Qinghai, Québec, Rhode I., Romania, Sakhalin, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Tennessee, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Tuva, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, Utah, Uzbekistan, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Himalaya, West Siberia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Yukon.