ONAGRACEJE EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY 



Epilobium angustifolium, L. 



Bright magenta Fireweed, 



Burnt Weed, 



July-August Fire-top, 



Purple Rocket, 

 Blooming Sally, 

 Spiked Willowherb, 

 French Willow. 



Epilobium: Greek for a little pod, in allusion to the shape 



of the seed vessel. 

 Angustifolium: Latin for narrow-leaved. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil of the Commons, 

 particularly in burnt-over areas. 



THE PLANT: erect, two to eight feet high; the stem usually 

 branched, leafy, without hairs or with fine soft ones above. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; lanceolate; two inches to six inches 

 long; without hairs on either surface; beneath paler green; 

 acute at the apex; narrowed at the base; entire or with 

 shallow teeth; pinnately veined, the mid-rib prominent, 

 the veins uniting in the margins. 



THE FLOWERS : large, in a showy spike, with four broad and 

 conspicuous petals ; coloured stamens ; and prominent white 

 pistil. 



THE FRUIT: a slender pod, " velvety and purple tinged; 

 with the seeds attached to silky down as in the milkweed. 



A tall plant, growing in clumps in burnt-over districts 



on the Commons. A handsome species, almost equally 



conspicuous when it bears magenta flowers, rather feathery 



in their outline, with coloured stamens, as when it bears the 



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