Irish wildflowers BSBI map

Short-fruited Willowherb, Epilobium obscurum, saileachán caol
Photographs: Ballingeary, Co. Cork

Short-fruited Willowherb
Epilobium obscurum
saileachán caol
Family: Onagraceae

Flowering time: July-August. Perennial. Native.

Pink-purple flowers with four notched petals and a club-shaped stigma. Leaves are oval-lanceolate, un-stalked and toothed, the lower leaves opposite, the upper alternate. Stems with 4 raised ridges. A slightly hairy plant producing elongated runners in the summer.

Frequent throughout Ireland on neutral to slightly acidic soils in moist woodland, stream edges, marshes and on walls and waste ground

Similar: Square-stalked Willowherb, E. tetragonum. Rare in Ireland.

Short-fruited Willowherb, Epilobium obscurum, saileachán caol

Short-fruited Willowherb, Epilobium obscurum, saileachán caol
Short-fruited Willowherb, Epilobium obscurum, saileachán caol

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