Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Hornemann's Willowherb
Epilobium hornemannii
Evening-Primrose family (Onagraceae)

Hornemann's Willowherb (Epilobium hornemannii) flowers are tiny, pink/white/light-blue, and inconspicuous, but the plant is so common that it eventually attracts attention. Some Hornemann's Willowherb plants are lush; others have far fewer and narrower leaves, fewer stems, and are shorter. Epilobium hornemannii is a highly variable plant. Exact identification is even more problematic since it also hybridizes. Look for Epilobium hornemannii along moist and trails, near ponds, and along irrigation ditches. It is common for Epilobium hornemannii to have red stems and leaves in the spring and to return to these colors in the fall. Heinrich Reichenbach named this species in 1824. Jens Hornemann was a Danish botanist of the early 1800s.


©2010 Hörður Kristinsson

Description

plants to 15" tall, somewhat hairy leaves, , to over 1 1/2" long, to or , or . Flowers few to many in nodding to erect . to almost 2" long. often purple. Petals to 1/3" long, pink or white. a 1 to 2+" long, very narrow, splitting and curling back.

Field Marks

Slender plants of moist areas, topped with scattered very small pink flowers. Distinctive long narrow seed pods that burst open.

© Al Schneider

An entire leaf has smooth edges. Not toothed or lobed.

pedicel -- The stem of a single flower.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

subalpine -- Just below the timberline.

ovate -- Oval, egg-shaped, with a tapering point.

capsule -- a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. In most cases the capsule splits apart to release seeds.

Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom.

terminal -- Located at the end (the tip or the apex).

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

serrate -- toothed with asymmetrical teeth pointing forward; like the cutting edge of a saw.

sessile -- attached without a stalk. For example, a leaf that clasps the stalk. A petiolate leaf has a stalk.

elliptic -- Oval, with no point or a very short point.

montane -- inhabiting mountainous country but below timberline.

A raceme is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along its axis.

lanceolate -- Lance-shaped. Long, wider in the middle.