Great Willowherb
Epilobium hirsutum
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Codlins-and-cream — soft-hairy all over, with notched purple-pink petals and a white centre.
A tall, softly hairy perennial of wet ground with narrow, toothed, stalkless leaves clasping the stem and large purple-pink flowers, each with four notched petals and a conspicuous creamy-white four-lobed stigma at the centre. Great willowherb grows in dense stands along ditches, riverbanks, marshes and damp waste ground around Dumfries.
Behaviour
The old country name codlins-and-cream refers to the pink-and-white flower, likened to cooked apples and cream. It spreads by both rhizome and abundant plumed seed, forming tall dense stands that shade out smaller plants. Elephant hawk-moth caterpillars feed on willowherbs, and the flowers are well worked by bumblebees through high summer.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Willowherbs (Onagraceae)
- Height
- 80–180 cm
- Status
- Native; common on wet ground
Photo by André Karwath aka Aka, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons