pink willow herbs seen growing in late summer in east Yorkshire next to the canal
Name: Rosebay willowherb ( fireweed ) Latin name: Chamerion angustifolium (L.) Holub, (Chamaenerion angustifolium, Epilobium angustifolium) Occurrence: Rosebay willowherb is an erect, rhizomatous, perennial, native on waste ground, embankments, rocky places, mountain scree and open woodland throughout the UK. It is recorded up to 1,850 ft in Britain. Formerly uncommon it became abundant in bombsites, burned areas and forest clearings. On the Isle of Wight, it suddenly appeared in abundance on an area of woodland destroyed by fire in 1909. Rosebay willowherb is favoured by conditions after woodland clearance and in the early stages of coppicing but growth and flowering become restricted as the tree canopy develops again. In reclaimed bogs in Ireland it is an important early colonizer but disappears as the vegetation matures. In Scotland, rosebay w Willowherbs are typically very quick to carpet large swathes of ground and may form key or even dominant species of local ecosystem. In and around the United Kingdom for example, Rosebay Willowherb (E. angustifolium) is widely found in mesotrophic grassland dominated by False Oat-grass (Arrhenatherum elatius), Cock's-foot (Dactylis glomerata) and Red Festuce (Festuca rubra), while Great Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) is found in mesotrophic grassland with abundant False Oat-grass, Cock's-foot and Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica). These two willowherb species are also seen to dominate open habitat early in ecological succession, to the virtual exclusion of other plant life. Broad-leaved Willowherb (Epilobium montanum) is found characteristically though not abundantly in the mesotrophic grasslands rich in False Oat-grass, Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), and sometimes the otherwise rare Greek Valerian (Polemonium caeruleum), which are peculiar to the Pennines. Most willowherbs will not tolerate shade trees well and thus are limited to comparatively freshly disturbed patches, yielding to other plants as the years pass by.
Size: 3744px × 5616px
Location: Goole, east Yorkshire
Photo credit: © graham bate / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: angustifolium, chamerion, fireweed, flower, garden, herb, pink, pink., plant, pretty, weed, willow
