Epilobium angustifolium

Fireweed or (mainly in British English formal botanical texts) Rosebay Willowherb (Epilobium angustifolium) is a perennial herbaceous plant in the Willowherb family (Onagraceae).

Some botanists separate the species off from the other willowherbs into either of the genera Chamaenerion or Chamerion, on the basis of its spiral (rather than opposite or whorled) leaf arrangement, but this feature (which also occurs to a greater or lesser extent in some other willowherbs) is not of marked taxonomic significance. ITIS cites this species as Chamerion angustifolium ssp. angustifolium

This herb is a very common circumboreal plant and occurs in many parts of the northern hemisphere, in wet calcareous to slightly acidic soils in open fields, pastures and burned-over lands.

The reddish stems of this herbaceous perennial are usually simple, erect, smooth, 0.5-2.5 m (1½-8 feet) high with scattered alternate leaves. The leaves are entire, lanceolate and pinnately veined.

The radially symmetrical flowers have four magenta to pink petals and are 2-3 cm in diameter. The styles have four stigmas. They occur in symmetrical terminal racemes.

The reddish-brown linear capsule splits from the apex. It bears many minute brown seeds, about 380 per pod and 80,000 per plant. The seeds have silky hairs to aid wind dispersal and are very easily spread by the wind, often becoming a weed and a dominant species on disturbed ground. Once established, the plants also spread extensively by underground roots, an individual plant eventually forming a parge patch.

The name Fireweed derives from the species' abundance as a coloniser on burnt sites after forest fires.

Uses

The young shoots were often collected in the spring by Native American people and old timers and mixed with other greens. They are best when young and tender; as the plant matures the leaves become tough and somewhat bitter. The southeast Native Americans use the stems in the young stage. They are peeled and eaten raw. When properly prepared soon after picking they are a good source of vitamin C and pro-vitamin A . The Dena'ina eat the young stems and leaves raw or boiled, sometimes with fish eggs. Some people peel the stems before eating them. The inland people mix the cooked fireweed with their dogs' food. Fireweed is also a medicine of the Upper Inlet Dena'ina, who treat pus-filled boils or cuts by placing a piece of the raw stem on the afflicted area. This is said to draw the pus out of the cut or boil and prevents a cut with pus in it from healing over too quickly.

In Alaska, candies, syrups, and jellies are made from fireweed.

Fireweed is the floral emblem of Yukon.