Chamaenerion angustifolium

The reddish stems of this herbaceous perennial are usually simple, erect, smooth, {{Convert|0.5–2|m|ft|abbr=off|frac=2}} high with scattered alternate leaves.{{Cite book |last=Francis-Baker |first=Tiffany |title=Concise Foraging Guide |date=2021 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-1-4729-8474-6 |series=The Wildlife Trusts |location=London |pages=70}} The leaves are spirally arranged, entire, narrowly lanceolate, and pinnately veined, the secondary leaf veins anastomosing, joining together to form a continuous marginal vein just inside the leaf margins.{{cite book |first1=John |last1=Poland |first2=Eric J. |last2=Clement |date=2009 |title=The vegetative key to the British flora |publisher=John Poland and BSBI |location=Southampton, U.K. |isbn=978-0-9560144-0-5 }}{{rp|NQ}}

The inflorescence is a symmetrical terminal raceme that blooms progressively from bottom to top, producing a gracefully tapered shape. The flowers are {{Convert|2 to 3|cm|abbr=off|frac=4}} in diameter, slightly asymmetrical, with four magenta to pink petals and four narrower pink sepals behind. The protruding style has four stigmas. The floral formula is ✶/↓ K4 C4 A4+4 or 4+0 Ğ(4).{{Cite book |last = Ronse De Craene |first = Louis P. |date = 2010-02-04 |title = Floral Diagrams: An Aid to Understanding Flower Morphology and Evolution |publisher = Cambridge University Press |location = Cambridge |isbn = 978-0-521-49346-8 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=24p-LgWPA50C |page = 209}}

The upright, reddish-brown linear seed capsule splits from the apex and curls open. It bears many minute brown seeds, about 300 to 400 per capsule and 80,000 per plant. The seeds have silky hairs to aid wind dispersal and are very easily spread by the wind, often becoming a weed and a dominant species on disturbed ground. Once established, the plants also spread extensively by underground roots, an individual plant eventually forming a large patch.

{{gallery|mode=packed

|Fireweed Epilobium angustifolium one flower close.jpg|Close-up of flower

|Fireweed seed pod bursting open in Tuntorp.webm|Seed capsule splits from the apex and bursts open when squeezed gently at the tip

|Epilobium angustifolium Fireweed seed stage tall.jpg|Capsule and seed stage

|Fireweed Epilobium angustifolium on rock sky.jpg|Growing on granite

|Bombus lucorum - Epilobium angustifolium - Keila.jpg|White-tailed bumblebee on a flower

}}

This species has been placed in the genus Chamaenerion (sometimes given as Chamerion) rather than Epilobium based on several morphological distinctions: spiral (rather than opposite or whorled) leaf arrangement; absence (rather than presence) of a hypanthium; subequal stamens (rather than stamens in two unequal whorls); zygomorphic (rather than actinomorphic) stamens and stigma. Under this taxonomic arrangement, Chamaenerion and Epilobium are monophyletic sister genera.{{cite book |author=Warren L. Wagner |title=Revised classification of the Onagraceae |author2=Peter C. Hoch |author3=Peter H. Raven |publisher=American Society of Plant Taxonomists |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-912861-83-8 |series=Systematic Botany Monographs |volume=83 |pages=1–243 |hdl=10088/7611 |name-list-style=amp}}

Two subspecies are recognized as valid:

• Chamaenerion angustifolium subsp. angustifolium
• Chamaenerion angustifolium subsp. circumvagum (Mosquin) Hoch

The generic name Chamaenerion means "dwarf rosebay" in allusion to the outward similarity to rosebay, Nerium oleander,{{cite web|title=Chamaenerion|url=http://floranorthamerica.org/Chamaenerion|publisher=Flora of North America|access-date=2024-04-26}} while the specific epithet angustifolium means "narrow-leaved".Gledhill D. 1985. The Names of Plants. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-5213-6675-5}} It is commonly known in Britain as "rosebay willowherb", for the same reason. The common American name "fireweed" derives from the species' abundance as a colonizer on burnt sites after forest fires and other disturbances.

File:Fireweed after Swan Lake fire.jpg]]

File:Porcupine-8474.jpg eating fireweed in Alaska]]

Fireweed is often abundant in wet calcareous to slightly acidic soils in open fields, pastures, and particularly burned-over lands. It is a pioneer species that quickly colonizes open areas with little competition, such as the sites of forest fires and forest clearings. Plants grow and flower as long as there is open space and plenty of light. Fireweed reaches its average peak colonization after five years and then begins to be replaced as trees and brush grow larger. When a new fire or other disturbance occurs that opens up the ground to light again, the seeds germinate. Some areas with heavy seed counts in the soil can, after burning, be covered with pure dense stands of this species and when in flower the landscape is turned into fields of color.

Fireweed is an effective colonizer; it may not be present until after a fire has moved through a landscape. Because of its very high dispersal capacity, "propagule pressure" from its regional presence will let it quickly colonize a disturbed area. Once seedlings are established, the plant quickly reproduces and covers the disturbed area via seeds and rhizomes. It is somewhat adapted to fire as well and so can prevent the reintroduction of fire to the landscape. Fireweed is well adapted to seed in severely burned areas as well, because the mineral soil that is exposed due to the removal of organic soil layers provides a good seedbed.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

In Britain the plant was considered a rare species in the 18th century,Flora Britannica, Richard Mabey, {{ISBN|978-1-85619-377-1}} and one confined to a few locations with damp, gravelly soils. It was misidentified as great hairy willowherb in contemporary floras. The plant's rise from local rarity to widespread abundance seems to have occurred at the same time as the expansion of the railway network and the associated soil disturbance. The plant became locally known as 'bombweed' due to its rapid colonization of bomb craters in the Second World War.

Bears and elk are known to favor the plant as food.{{Cite book|last=Reiner|first=Ralph E.|title=Introducing the Flowering Beauty of Glacier National Park and the Majestic High Rockies|publisher=Glacier Park, Inc.|year=1969|pages=70}}

The flowers are visited by a wide variety of insects (the generalised pollination syndrome).{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1111/plb.12328| pmid = 25754608| title = Competition for pollinators and intra-communal spectral dissimilarity of flowers| journal = Plant Biology | year = 2016| last1 = Van Der Kooi | first1 = C. J.| last2 = Pen | first2 = I.| last3 = Staal | first3 = M.| last4 = Stavenga | first4 = D. G.| last5 = Elzenga | first5 = J. T. M. |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=56–62| bibcode = 2016PlBio..18...56V| url = https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/78585910/Competition_for_pollinators_and_intra_communal_spectral_dissimilarity_of_flowers.pdf}} Some species in the insect order Lepidoptera frequently use the willowherb as their primary larval host-plant, examples including the elephant hawk moth (Deilephila elpenor),{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZPSBQAAQBAJ&q=deilephila+elpenor&pg=PA338|title=Pests of Fruit Crops: A Colour Handbook, Second Edition|last=Alford|first=David V.|date=2016-04-19|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=9781482254211|language=en}} bedstraw hawk moth (Hyles gallii), and the white-lined sphinx moth (Hyles lineata).The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.

{{Cookbook|Fireweed}}File:Chamerion angustifolium (inflorescense) fermented tea.jpg

The plant is not considered palatable, but the young shoots and leaves can be cooked and eaten.{{Cite book |last1=Elias |first1=Thomas S. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/244766414 |title=Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods |last2=Dykeman |first2=Peter A. |publisher=Sterling |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4027-6715-9 |location=New York |pages=109 |oclc=244766414 |orig-year=1982}}{{cite book |last1=Niering |first1=William A. |author-link1=William Niering| last2=Olmstead |first2=Nancy C. |title=The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, Eastern Region |year=1985 |orig-year=1979|publisher=Knopf |isbn=0-394-50432-1 |page=642}} Fresh leaves can be eaten raw. The young flowers are also edible (being made into jelly in the Yukon){{cite web |title=Yukon’s Sweet Secret: The Surprising Story of Fireweed Jelly |url=https://knowngarden.com/fireweed-jelly/ |website=knowngarden.com}} and the stems of older plants can be split to extract the edible raw pith.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/277203364 |title=The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |author=United States Department of the Army |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-60239-692-0 |location=New York |pages=54 |language=en-US |oclc=277203364}} The root can be roasted after scraping off the outside, but often tastes bitter. To mitigate this, the root is collected before the plant flowers and the brown thread in the middle removed.{{cite web |title=Fireweed: Pictures, Flowers, Leaves and Identification | Chamerion angustifolium |url=http://www.ediblewildfood.com/fireweed.aspx}} The stem centers can also be prepared by splitting the outer stalk, and eaten raw.{{cite book |last=Lyons |first=C. P. |author-link=C. P. Lyons |title=Trees, Shrubs and Flowers to Know in Washington |date=1956 |publisher=J. M. Dent & Sons |edition=1st |location=Canada |page=196}}

Traditionally the young shoots are collected in the spring by Native American and Siberian people and mixed with other greens. As the plant matures, the leaves become tough and somewhat bitter. Fireweed petals are made into jelly, and mature leaves are dried for use as tea. Roots are traditionally eaten raw by Siberian Native people.{{FEIS|genus=Chamaenerion|species=angustifolium|type=forb|last=Pavek|first=Diane S.|date=1992}} When properly prepared soon after picking they are a good source of vitamin C and provitamin A. The Denaʼina add fireweed to their dogs' food. Fireweed is also a medicine of the Upper Inlet Dena'ina, who treat pus-filled boils or cuts by placing a piece of the raw stem on the afflicted area. This is said to draw the pus out of the cut or boil and prevents a cut with pus in it from healing over too quickly.

The leaves can be used to make tea.{{Cite book |last=Angier |first=Bradford |url=https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetoedib00angi/page/80/mode/2up |title=Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants |publisher=Stackpole Books |year=1974 |isbn=0-8117-0616-8 |location=Harrisburg, PA |pages=80 |oclc=799792 |author-link=Bradford Angier}} In Russia, fireweed is made into a tea known as Ivan-Chai (Ivan-Tea)AUGUST 01, 2020, Julia Prakofjewa, Raivo Kalle, Olga Belichenko, Valeria Kolosova, Renata Sõukand [https://www.cell.com/heliyon/fulltext/S2405-8440(20)31476-6? Re-written narrative: transformation of the image of Ivan-chaj in Eastern Europe], Heliyon, RESEARCH ARTICLE, VOLUME 6, ISSUE 8, E04632, or Koporsky tea (from the town of Koporye, where it has been produced since the 13th century).{{cite web |last1=Kravchenko |first1=Alexandra |date=2017-10-04 |title=5 wild herbs Russians like to brew up to keep warm |url=https://www.rbth.com/russian-kitchen/326320-5-russian-herbal-tea |access-date=7 January 2019 |website=Russia Beyond}} They use it as highly prized medicinal herb too. The popularity of fireweed tea perhaps stems from the similarity of its production to that of common black tea (Camellia sinensis), leading to a richly flavoured and deeply coloured herbal tea, with no caffeine, it is commercially sold in a blend with mint or thyme. Fireweed tea is high in iron, copper, potassium and calcium.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

The honey produced from fireweed is highly valued for its quality. Most fireweed honey is produced in locations in cool climates, such as the Pacific Northwest in the United States and Scandinavian countries in Europe.{{Cite web|url= https://beeswiki.com/fireweed-honey/|title=Fireweed Honey|website=beeswiki.com|date=10 June 2020 |language=en-us|access-date=2021-09-24}}

Fireweed's natural variation in ploidy has prompted its use in scientific studies of the possible effects of polyploidy on adaptive potential{{cite journal |last=Martin |first=Sara L. |author2=Husband, Brian C. |title=Adaptation of diploid and tetraploid Chamerion angustifolium to elevation but not local environment |journal=Evolution |date=1 March 2013 |doi=10.1111/evo.12065 |volume=67 |issue=6 |pages=1780–1791 |pmid=23730769|s2cid=9272692 |doi-access=free }} and species diversification.{{cite web|last=Husband|first=Brian C.|title=University of Guelph Department of Integrative Biology, Dr. Brian C. Husband|url=http://www.uoguelph.ca/ib/people/faculty/husband.shtml|access-date=24 April 2013}}

Because fireweed can colonize disturbed sites, even following an old oil spill, it is often used to re-establish vegetation.{{cite book | url=http://wssa.net/wp-content/themes/WSSA/WorldOfWeeds/fireweed.html | chapter=Fireweed | publisher=Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) | title=Intriguing World of Weeds | last=Mitch | first=Larry W.}}

It is also grown as an ornamental plant. A white form, C. angustifolium 'Album', is listed by the Royal Horticultural Society.{{cite web |title=Royal Horticultural Society: Chamaenerion angustifolium 'Album' |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/details?plantid=416 |access-date=23 February 2017 }}

Because of its rapid establishment on disturbed land, fireweed can be used for land management purposes. Events such as logging, fires and mass wasting can leave the land barren and without vegetation. This causes the land to be more susceptible to erosion because of the lack of root structure in the soil. Fireweed is a useful tool that can be utilized after prescribed fires and logging events because of its fire resistance and ability to recycle the nutrients left in the soil after a fire.{{Cite journal |last1=Pinno |first1=Bradley D. |last2=Landhäusser |first2=Simon M. |last3=Chow |first3=Pak S. |last4=Quideau |first4=Sylvie A. |last5=MacKenzie |first5=M. Derek |date=2013-10-28 |title=Nutrient uptake and growth of fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium) on reclamation soils |journal=Canadian Journal of Forest Research |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=1–7 |doi=10.1139/cjfr-2013-0091 |issn=0045-5067}} It is also able to quickly establish a root system for reproduction and through this can prevent mass wasting and erosion events from occurring on burned or logged hillsides. Reestablishment of vegetation is crucial in the recovery time of disturbed lands. In many cases, fireweed establishes itself on these disturbed lands, but implementing the introduction of fireweed to a disturbed area as a management practice could prove useful in speeding up the recovery of disturbed lands. Disturbed and burned over lands are generally unpleasant to look at and pose a risk to habitats and nearby communities because of their susceptibility to mass wasting events. Fireweed can quickly establish itself across the landscape and prevent further damage, while providing a blanket of vegetation for recovering fauna to create new habitats in and for pollinators to foster the re-establishment of a diverse set of flora.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

File:Flag of Yukon.svg features fireweed.]]

Fireweed has been referred to in poetry and prose since at least the 19th century. Rudyard Kipling wrote, "The fire-weed glows in the centre of the drive ways".Time (weekly ed.), 1892 In The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), J. R. R. Tolkien lists fireweed as one of the flowering plants returning to the site of a bonfire inside the Old Forest.{{cite book |last1=Tolkien |first1=J. R. R. |title=The Fellowship of the Ring |date=1954 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |location=London |page=146}}

As the first plant to colonise waste ground, fireweed is often mentioned in postwar British literature. The children's novel Fireweed is set during the Blitz and features two runaway teenagers who meet on bomb sites where fireweed is growing profusely.{{cite book |last1=Walsh |first1=Jill Paton |title=Fireweed |date=1969 |publisher=Hot Key Books |isbn=978-1471401749}} Another children's novel, A Reflection of Rachel features a protagonist attempting to restore an old garden that used "Rose Pink Willow Herb" as an ornamental plant and mentions its notoriety for growing on abandoned bomb sites.{{cite book |last1=Willson |first1=Robina Beckles |title=A Reflection of Rachel |date=1967 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |isbn=978-0333037232 |pages=52–53 |edition=1st}} Cicely Mary Barker's 1948 book Flower Fairies of the Wayside included an illustration of 'The Rose-Bay Willow-Herb Fairy', with the accompanying verse "On the breeze my fluff is blown; So my airy seeds are sown. Where the earth is burnt and sad, I will come to make it glad. All forlorn and ruined places, All neglected empty spaces, I can cover—only think!— With a mass of rosy pink."{{cite web |url=https://flowerfairies.com/rose-bay-willow-herb-fairy/ |title=The Rose-Bay Willow-Herb Fairy |author=Cicely Mary Barker |date=15 November 2016 |access-date=2019-08-16}}

Rosebay Willowherb was voted the county flower of London in 2002 following a poll by the wild plant conservation charity Plantlife.[http://www.plantlife.org.uk/wild_plants/county_flowers/ County Flowers page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430170312/http://www.plantlife.org.uk/wild_plants/county_flowers/ |date=2015-04-30 }}

Fireweed is the floral emblem of Yukon.{{cite web |title=About Yukon: Fireweed |url=https://yukon.ca/en/your-government/yukon-symbols-and-emblems/fireweed |website=Yukon.ca |date=February 2019 |access-date=10 December 2019}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons}}

• [https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/forb/chaang/all.html= Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) Syntheses about fire ecology and fire regimes in the United States]
• [http://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=CHAN9 USDA Plants profile for Chamerion angustifolium (fireweed)]
• [http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-taxon=Chamerion+angustifolium Calflora Database: Chamerion angustifolium (fireweed)]
• [http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_IJM.pl?tid=80417 Jepson Manual eFlora treatment of Chamerion angustifolium]
• {{ITIS|id=510756|taxon=Chamerion angustifolium}}
• [http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/waflora/checklist.php?Taxon=Chamerion%20angustifolium%20ssp.%20circumvagum Washington Flora Checklist]
• [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?lin=s&p=has_linkout&id=13055 NCBI: Chamerion angustifolium]
• {{GRIN | name = Chamerion angustifolium (L.) Holub| id = 410680 | access-date = 2012-10-05}}
• Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West, Gregory L. Tilford, {{ISBN|0-87842-359-1}}
• [http://www.northernbushcraft.com/plants/fireweed/notes.htm Northernbushcraft.com: Edibility of Fireweed] – visual identification and edible parts

{{Floral Emblems of Canada}}

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angustifolium

Category:Edible plants

Category:Flora of Europe

Category:Flora of Northern America

Category:Plants described in 1753

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Category:Medicinal plants of North America

Category:Plants used in traditional Native American medicine