GREAT WILLOW-HERB 



Fruit. — Slender capsule, three inches long, opening 

 lengthwise; seeds many, each with a tuft of hairs at the 

 top. 



Largely pollinated by bees. 

 Stamens mature before the stig- 

 mas. Nectar-bearing. 



'*A goodly and stately plant 

 having leaves like the greatest 

 willow osier, garnished with 

 brave flowers of great beauty, 

 consisting of four leaves apiece 

 and of orient purple color," so 

 wrote Gerarde, three hundred 

 years ago. Tall and graceful 

 and willowy, climbing the hill- 

 sides, hugging the fence cor- 

 ners, wandering along the road- 

 way and the railroad tracks, 

 taking possession of burnt fields 

 — citizen of the world — this is 

 the Willow- Weed. The Greeks 

 called it Epilobium, sitting on 

 the long pod; the English, 

 Willow-Herb, because of its 

 leaves, and Fireweed, because 

 it loves the ashes of burnt tracts. 

 Europe it is known as Rose-Bay and French Willow. 

 Entering America by way of the Atlantic coast in co- 

 lonial days, it crossed the White Horse Pass with the 

 railroad, and has recently been reported from the banks 

 of the Yukon. 



The first flowers appear in late June and creep up 

 the stem, leaving behind them a trail of long slender 



129 



Great Willow-Herb. 

 Epildbium angustifdlium 



On the roadsides of 



