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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE EVENING-PRIMROSE FAMILY | |||||||||
| These plants are perennial herbs or shrubs common to temperate and subtropical regions. Stems may be present or absent and when absent, all of the leaves are basal. Stem leaves are either alternate or opposite. Flowers can be solitary or in branched or unbranched clusters. The flowers have four sepals and petals and four or eight stamens. The ovary is inferior and is surrounded by a hypanthium. The hypanthium is the result of the fusion of part of the sepals, petals, and stamens. | |||||||||
| SMOOTH WILLOWEED | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Epilobium pygmaeum | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Smooth willoweed grows as tall as 30 cm from a taproot. The stems are creeping and spreading and are branched near the base. The leaves are alternate and without stalks. The edges of the leaves are usually finely square-toothed. The flowers are crowded in terminal leafy spikes. The flowers are very small and difficult to see. The sepals are green and the petals are purple or violet. The seeds do not have a tuft of hairs. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Smooth willoweed grows in moist to drying, clay mud-flats in the prairies. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This species is found in southwestern to south-central Saskatchewan in the Cypress Upland, Mixed Grassland, and Moist Mixed Grassland ecoregions. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Smooth willoweed is vulnerable because it is rare or uncommon in Saskatchewan. It is only somewhat regionally restricted extending to a limited extent into adjacent general regions of the province. Most local populations are small. Possible threats have been identified for this species. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY SMOOTH WILLOWEED | |||||||||
| * Are the seeds without a tuft of hairs? * Are the leaves alternate? * Are the petals purple to violet? * Did you find it in southwestern to south-central Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found smooth willoweed! | |||||||||
