Family |
Onagraceae
Epilobium tetragonum
L.
Epilobium tetragonum L.
(First published in Sp. Pl.: 348 (1753); Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 2, Pl. CCXLVI nº 1; 1970, syn. E. adnatum Griseb.)
• Life-form & habit : Perennial herb with a rhizome producing leafy stems; stems 15–100 cm tall, marked by slightly rough raised lines, these lines decurrent from the leaf petioles.
• Leaves : Leaves oblong to oblong-lanceolate, with nearly parallel margins, 2–8 × 0.5–2 cm, serrate, sessile or shortly petiolate; blade more or less decurrent, the decurrent lines continuing down the stem.
• Inflorescence & flowers : Inflorescence canescent and rough-scabrid; the rest of the plant canescent or puberulent; flowers 4–8 mm long; petals purplish; stigma clavate, not exceeding the anthers.
• Fruit : Capsule 5–8 cm long; seeds papillose, ovoid, about 1–1.5 mm long.
• Phenology : Flowers from June to September.
• Habitat & elevation : More or less humid places, degraded woodland and rubble or disturbed ground.
• Lebanese distribution : Recorded by Mouterde from Beyrouth, Batroun, Tripoli-Marine, Qrayé, Bikfaya, ‘Abey, Ouata-ej-Joz below Mayrouba, Boq‘ata, Mayrouba, Rayfoun, Bân, Hadeth, Hasroun, Bcharré, Dimane, Mdeireje to Khan Jdid, Roueissat, Ehden, Zahlé, Qabbélias, Ksara and Saghbine.
• Native range : Albania, Algeria, Altay, Austria, Azores, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Is., Cape Provinces, Central European Russia, Corse, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, France, Free State, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Krasnoyarsk, Kriti, KwaZulu-Natal, Lebanon-Syria, Lesotho, Madeira, Morocco, Netherlands, North Caucasus, Northern Provinces, Northwest European Russia, NW. Balkan Pen., Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, West Himalaya, West Siberia.
• Diagnostic remarks : Distinguished within Mouterde’s Epilobium key by its entire or only very slightly four-lobed stigma, rough-scabrid inflorescence, subsessile and often decurrent leaves, and strongly marked decurrent stem lines. It differs from E. montanum and E. lanceolatum, which have deeply four-lobed stigmas, and from E. minutiflorum by its scabrid inflorescence, stronger decurrent lines, larger flowers, and seeds lacking the short translucent beak noted for E. minutiflorum. Mouterde notes that in Syria-Lebanon the typical subsp. tetragonum, with rather small flowers and often short stems, is at least predominant, while subsp. tournefortii has larger flowers, often lanceolate leaves, and a stigma usually exceeding the anthers.