Chamaenerion latifolium (formerly Epilobium latifolium, also called Chamerion latifolium)[1][2] is a species of flowering plant in the evening primrose family known by the English common names dwarf fireweed[3] and river beauty willowherb. It has a circumboreal distribution, appearing throughout the northern regions of the Northern Hemisphere, including subarctic and Arctic areas such as snowmelt-flooded gravel bars and talus, in a wide range of elevations.[4] This is a perennial herb growing in clumps of leaves variable in size, shape, and texture above a woody caudex. The leaves are 1 to 10 centimeters long, lance-shaped to oval, pointed or rounded at the tips, and hairy to hairless and waxy. The inflorescence is a rough-haired raceme of nodding flowers with bright to deep pink, and occasionally white, petals up to 3 centimeters long. Behind the opened petals are pointed sepals. The fruit is an elongated capsule which may exceed 10 centimeters in length.
| Chamaenerion latifolium | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Myrtales |
| Family: | Onagraceae |
| Genus: | Chamaenerion |
| Species: | C. latifolium
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| Binomial name | |
| Chamaenerion latifolium | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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This arctic plant provides valuable nutrition for the Inuit, who eat the leaves raw, boiled with fat, or steeped in water for tea, the flowers and fruits raw, and as a salad with meals of seal and walrus blubber.[4][5] The leaves and shoots are edible,[6] tasting much like spinach, and is also known in the Canadian tundra as River Beauty.[citation needed]
It is the national flower of Greenland[7] with the Greenlandic name niviarsiaq ("young girl").
References
edit- ^ a b c "Chamaenerion latifolium (L.) Sweet", Tropicos, Missouri Botanical Garden, retrieved 2017-03-03
- ^ "Chamerion angustifolium (L.) Holub ssp. circumvagum (Mosquin) Hoch [JPM2]". Washington Flora Checklist. University of Washington Herbarium, Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. Retrieved 2012-10-05.
- ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Chamerion latifolium". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
- ^ a b Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago Archived June 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Ethnobotany
- ^ Reiner, Ralph E. (1969). Introducing the Flowering Beauty of Glacier National Park and the Majestic High Rockies. Glacier Park, Inc. p. 70.
- ^ The national flower of Greenland: Dwarf fireweed
External links
edit
Media related to Chamerion latifolium at Wikimedia Commons- Washington Flora Checklist
- Jepson eFlora
- Photo gallery
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