PURPLE-LEAF WILLOWHERB
File Size: 57 KB
 
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
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Purple-leaf willowherb flower
24 KB
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Purple-leaf willowherb leaf
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Purple-leaf willowherb leaves
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Purple-leaf willowherb flower
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Purple-leaf willowherb pods
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Purple-leaf willowherb
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Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas
Purple-leaf willowherb
43 KB
Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas