GREAT HAIRY WILLOW HERB 



8 9 

 host of other 



other Willow Herbs, Flags, Reeds, Sedges, and a 

 hygrophytes in the reed swamp. 



Though without so conspicuous a flower as the Rosebay, it is a 

 taller, more abundant gregarious plant, and has so delicious a scent 

 that it is equally popular. 

 It is tall, erect, branched, 

 with underground stolons 

 or creeping shoots, with 

 the upper leaves lance - 

 shaped, alternate, clasp- 

 ing, very woolly, like 

 the stem (hence the 

 second Latin and the 

 English names), and 

 slightly bordered with 

 small teeth. 



Numerous and large, 

 the flowers are purple, 

 bell -shaped, and partly 

 drooping. The white 

 anthers are long and 

 awl -shaped. The calyx 

 is deeply divided, angu- 

 lar, erect, finely hairy 

 inside below. The pe- 

 tals are inversely heart- 

 shaped, white at the 

 base, and twice as long 

 as the calyx. The flowers 

 are regular, with erect 

 style and stamens. The 

 tuberculate pale - brown 

 seeds, downy one side, 

 enclosed in a pod, are 

 acute below. 



The Great Hairy Willow Herb forms dense brakes 6 ft. high. 

 The flowers are in bloom during July and August. The plant is a 

 herbaceous perennial, and freely reproduced by roots or stoles. The 

 flowers are large, being 25-30 mm. across, and make a good show 

 when growing in a clump. The stigmas and anthers ripen together, 

 and the plant is capable of self-pollination. But cross-pollination is 



GREAT HAIRY WILLOW HERB (Epilobium hirsutum, L.) 



