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Onagraceae
Great Willowherb
Epilobium hirsutum
Unstoppable growth beside water.
- Family
- Onagraceae
- Genus
- Epilobium
- Native to
- Europe, Asia, North Africa
- Bloom season
- Summer
- Type
- perennial herb
- Height
- 3-6 ft
- Sunlight
- full sun to part shade
- Soil
- moist to wet, fertile
- Water
- high
- Hardiness
- 4-8
- Lifespan
- perennial
Did you know
- Great willowherb spreads both by prolific seeding and by underground runners, forming impenetrable stands 6 feet tall on riverbanks — one plant has been recorded producing over 80,000 seeds in a single season.
- The seeds have a tuft of silky white hairs (a pappus) that allows them to drift on the breeze or float on water — drifts of silky seeds floating downstream on a chalk stream are a memorable sight on warm summer afternoons.
- The species was called 'codlins and cream' in old English because the flowers release a faint scent reminiscent of cooked apples (codlings) and cream, a combination once used to make traditional fritters.
- Great willowherb was one of the first plants to recolonize bombed sites in London during World War II — along with rosebay willowherb (fireweed), it painted the ruins pink in the summers following the Blitz.
- The genus name Epilobium means 'upon pod' in Greek, referencing the fact that the petals and sepals sit atop the long, slender seed capsule, which is already developing before the flowers have fully opened.
Color meanings
0
tenacity
1
abundance
2
recovery