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Epilobium hirsutum L.
2128 (3). Е. hirsutum L., Sp. Pl. ed. 1 (1753) 347; Hayek, Prodr. Fl. Penins. Balc. I (1926) 943; Hegi, III. Fl. Mitt.-Eur. V, 2 (1926) 823; Raven, Fl. Eur. II (1968) 309; Exs.: Pl.Bulg. Exicc. No 697 — Влакнеста върбовка

Fam: Onagraceae Juss.
Genus: Epilobium L.
Species: Epilobium hirsutum L.
English Name: Great willowherb, Great hairy willowherb or Hairy willowherb

Description:

Perennial plant. Rhizome thick, curved, during flowering underground developing up to 18 (-40) cm long, fleshy, creeping and rooting overwintering shoots, with sparse, yellowish opposite scaly leaves. Stem cylindrical or sometimes slightly ridged at the base; 50 - 100 (-200) cm high, rarely lower (20 - 30) cm, erect, spreading fibrous with sparse or dense long thin hairs and thick or sparse short glandular and short simple hairs, sometimes long hairs felted and almost without glandular, in the upper part often only with glandular and simple short hairs. Leaves elongated lance, ovate-lance or broadly lance (2-) 4 - 12 cm long, 5 - 35 mm wide, sessile, wedge-shaped at the base, semi-enveloping the stem and short-drooping, sharply serrated or serrated, scattered or densely fibrous to felted . Flower buds oblong-ovate, shortly pointed or obtuse, almost glabrous, fluffy glandular or felted, erect; flowers solitary in the axils of the upper leaves. The hypanthium is 2 - 3 mm long. Sepals at the apex with an little awn or spike, fibrous. Petals at the apex heart-shaped bluntly cut, 10 - 16 (-20) mm (or rarely 6 - 9 mm) long, pink violets to pink purple, at the base with a ring of hairs, 2 times or slightly longer than the calyx. The style longer than stamens; stigma deep, 4-part, after flowering partitions curled back. The box is 4 - 10 cm long, slightly expanded towards the upper part, almost naked, glandularly fluffy, glandular or densely simply fibrous. Seeds brown, back ovate, 1.0 - 1.5 mm long, covered with elongated warts.

Note. There is also a form in which the stem is covered with thick, short and glandular hairs, and only near some nodes there are scattered long hairs. It is close to var. adenocaulon Hausskn. op. c. 55 (= subglabrum Koch), but the stem of this variant has only simple and glandular hairs. Probably a transition between var. hirsutum and var. subglabrum Koch.

Volatility

1    Stem with thick, short glandular and short simple hairs mixed with асвкшеа, thin, long hairs. The leaves are sparsely fibrous, light green. . .var. hirsutum; E. hirsutum var.vulgare Hausskn., Mon. Epil. (! 884) 55; Distributed ……………......…………………..……………… 2
1* Stem with thick, thin, long and short simple hairs, without or with few glandular hairs ………………………………..……….......... 4
2    Stem 20 - 30 cm high. Petals small. The boxes are 1.5 - 3.5 cm long, ………………. f. Nanuп Leveil. ar. Soŏ, Mag. Fl. Veg. (1966) 385; Hegi, op. e. 824. Pirin (near the town of Melnik)
2* Stem higher than 50 cm. Petals longer than 8 mm. Boxes longer than 4 cm. 3 ..........................................................................….…. 3
3 Petals 10 - 20 mm long …………………………… ……………… f. hirsutism. E. hirsutum f. grandiflorum Hausskn., op. c. 54. Common.
3* Petals 8 - 9 (-10) mm long …………. f. parviflorum Hausskn., op. c. 54; E. hirsutum f. micranthum Lange, in Hegi, op. c. 224. Western Sredna Gora
4    Stem with thick, long, thin spreading hairs mixed with sparse short simple and glandular hairs. Leaves shaggy fibrous ................... var. villosum (Koch) Hausskn., op. c. 55; E. hirsutum var. villosissimum Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ. Helv. (1835) 240; Stoyan. Steph ,, Fl. Bulgarian ed. 1.11 (1925) 784: Hayek, op. s, 943. Widespread .................................................................................................................................................. 6
4* Stem and leaves on both sides grayish-white fibrous, felted, with long and short simple hairs, usually without glands. Leaves usually shorter and shortly pointed ....................... var. tomentosum (Vent.) Boiss., Fl. Or. II (1872) 746; Hausskn., Op. c. 56; E. tomentosum Vent., Cels. (1803) t. 90. Black Sea coast (South), Danube plain, Struma valley ................................................................................................................. 5
5   Stem usually higher than 50 cm, leaves longer than 4 cm. Boxes longer than 4 cm .............................. f. tomentosa. Struma Valley (village of Kulata, Petrich region)
5* Stem 20 - 25 (-30) cm high, leaves small, 1.3 - 3.7 cm long. Boxes up to 4.5 cm long ............................. f. minus Gan. f. n., in Addenda. Black Sea coast (near the town of Michurin), Danube plain.
6 Stem higher than 50 cm. Leaves 4 - 12 cm long. Boxes longer than 4 cm .................................................................................................. 7
6* Stem (11-) 14 - 22 cm high. The leaves are 2.0 - 3.8 cm long. The boxes are about 3 cm long ............................................. f. minor. Gan. f. n., in Addenda. Northeastern Bulgaria, Central Stara Planina, Pirin, Sredna Gora (Western), Eastern Rhodopes.
7   Petals over 10 mm long ........................................................................................................................................................................... 8
7* Petals 6 - 9 (-10) mm long ....................................................................................................................................................................... 9
8 The leaves are green .......................................... f. villosum; E. hirsutum f. grandiflora-virescens Hausskn., op. c. 56; E. hirsutum f. incanum (Hausskn.) Hayek, op. c. 944. Rila, Western Rhodopes, Thracian lowland (Sadovo).
8* Leaves densely gray hairy fibrous ……….. f. canescens Hausskn. op. p. 55. Distributed
9   Leaves green, scattered fibrous ……………………. f. parviflorum Hausskn., op. c. 54. Znepol region (Golo bardo), Sredna gora (Western)
9* Leaves densely gray hairy fibrous ………………………… f. parviflora-canescens Hausskn. ex. Hegi, op. c. 825. Black Sea coast (North), Sredna Gora (West).

From:    „Флора на Н. Р. България”, том VII, БАН, София, (1079)

Economic significance. Nectariferous.

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Epilobium hirsutum is a flowering plant belonging to the willowherb genus Epilobium in the family Onagraceae. It is commonly known as the great willowherb, great hairy willowherb or hairy willowherb.[2] Local names include codlins-and-cream, apple-pie and cherry-pie.

Description

It is a tall, perennial plant, reaching up to 2 metres in height. The robust stems are profusely hairy with soft spreading hairs.[3]:160[4] The hairy leaves are 2–12 cm long and 0.5–3.5 cm wide. They are long and thin and are widest below the middle. They have sharply toothed edges and no stalk. The large flowers have four notched petals. These are purple-pink and are usually 10–16 mm long.[5]:357 The stigma is white and has four lobes. The sepals are green.

Distribution

The native range of the species includes North Africa, most of Europe up to southern Sweden,[6] and parts of Asia. It is absent from much of Scandinavia and north-west Scotland. It has been introduced to North America[2] and Australia. It typically grows in wet or damp habitats without dense tree-cover up to 2,500 metres above sea-level. Common habitats include marshland, ditches and the banks of rivers and streams. It flowers from June to September, with a peak in July and August. The flowers are visited by many types of insects, and can be characterized by a generalized pollination syndrome.[7] A number of insects feed on the leaves including the elephant hawkmoth, Deilephila elpenor.

Ecology

Damp and waste places, river-sides and ditches.[8]

Trichomes

The plant shows glandular trichomes. They are unicellular, without a specialized basal cell. They have a cutinized cell wall and a protruding pore on the top. The upper part of the trichome cell contains flavonoids, e.g. quercitrin and myricitrin.[9]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Flowering Time: Blooms: VI - IX.

Distribution in Bulgaria: Growing mostly along streams and rivers, along swamps and lakes on moist, wet primary soils, less often in spills and swampy places with developed soils; occurs in groups of spots or small cenoses, pure or with an admixture of species of the genera Juncus, Lythrum, etc .; it rarely grows apophytically along forest roads, on embankments, in ditches, singly or with various weeds, but here it soon shifts from more competitive species, from the lowlands to the mountains, but mainly in the foothills. Widespread, up to 1400 m altitude. (Conspectus of the Bulgarian Vascular Flora) = conspectus&gs_l= Zlc.

Distribution: Europe (excluding the Far North), Caucasus, Central Asia, Western Siberia, Africa, North America.

Conservation status and threats: no protected species in Bulgaria by the Biodiversity Law. - Biological Diversity Act - http://eea.government.bg/bg/legislation/biodiversity/zbran_22.08.15.pdf

Medical plant: it is not medical plant - Medicinal Plants Act - http://eea.government.bg/bg/legislation/biodiversity/ZLR_en.pdf

References: „Флора на Н. Р. България”, том VII, БАН, София, (1079), Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

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