Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Purple-leaf willowherb

PURPLE-LEAF WILLOWHERB

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Epilobium coloratum Spreng.

Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 12-40 inches

Family: Onagraceae - Evening-primrose Family

Flowering Period: July, August, September,October

Stems:

Erect, usually much-branched above, glabrous below, minutely pubescent above in lines extending downward from each leaf base.

Leaves:

Basal and cauline, mostly opposite; petiole 1/6 to 2/5 inch; blade narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate-linear or narrow elliptic, 1.5 to 4.8 inches long, .2 to 1.2 inch wide, base rounded to wedge-shaped, margins irregularly serrate, tip acuminate.

Inflorescences:

Panicles or corymbs, terminal, minutely pubescent.

Flowers:

Pedicels 1/5 to 2/5 inch; hypanthium short; sepals 4, deciduous, erect, lanceolate to oblong-elliptic, 1/20 to 1/8 inch, canescent; petals 4, white to pink, oblong, 1/8 to 1/5 inch, apex notched; stamens 8, usually unequal.

Fruits:

Capsules long-cylindric, 1.2 to 2.4 inches long, 1/25 inch wide, canescent; seeds numerous, lance-ellipsoid, surface papillose; coma of reddish brown hairs, 1/3 to 1/2 inch long.

Habitat:

Marshes, seeps, spring runs, stream banks, wet ditches, shores of ponds and lakes

Distribution:

Scattered statewide

Origin:

Native

Comments:

Epilobium, upon + lobe, alluding to the perianth atop the ovary.

Purple-leaf willowherb