Flora-Fauna

Epilobium hirsutum L.

(Sp. Pl.: 347, 1753; Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, p. 110; 1966)

• Life-form & habit: Robust perennial, 50–150 cm tall, with erect, often reddish stems densely covered with long spreading hairs.
• Leaves: Opposite below, alternate above; lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 5–12 × 1–3 cm, sessile or shortly petiolate, sharply serrate, both surfaces softly hairy.
• Inflorescence & flowers: Flowers large, in terminal leafy racemes. Pedicels short, hairy. Sepals lanceolate. Petals pink to purplish, notched, 12–20 mm long. Stamens included; style exserted, stigma 4-lobed.
• Fruit: Capsules linear, 5–8 cm, densely hairy, splitting into 4 valves; seeds numerous, minute, each with a silky coma.
• Phenology: Flowers May–September.
• Habitat & elevation: Moist places, riverbanks, marshes, irrigation canals; low to mid elevations.
• Lebanese distribution: Reported along river valleys and wet areas of Mount Lebanon and Beqaa (rare and localized).
• Syrian distribution: Streams and wet habitats around Damascus, Homs, coastal rivers, and the Orontes valley.
• Native range: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Altay, Angola, Austria, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Burundi, Canary Islands, Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Central European Russia, Chad, China (North-Central, South-Central, Southeast), Corse, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, DR Congo, East Aegean Islands, East European Russia, East Himalaya, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, France, Free State, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, India, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kirgizstan, Korea, Kriti, Krym, KwaZulu-Natal, Lebanon–Syria, Lesotho, Libya, Manchuria, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, North Caucasus, North European Russia, Northern Provinces, Northwest European Russia, NW. Balkan Peninsula, Pakistan, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Qinghai, Romania, Rwanda, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sudan–South Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Tanzania, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turkey, Turkey-in-Europe, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, West Himalaya, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yemen, Zimbabwe (POWO).
• Introduced into: British Columbia, Colorado, Connecticut, Finland, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Norway, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Primorye, Prince Edward Island, Québec, Rhode Island, Sakhalin, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin (POWO).

⚠️ Diagnostic note: Readily recognized among Levantine Epilobium by its tall, robust, hairy stems, large pink-purple flowers, and long linear capsules with silky-haired seeds.