Those tricky willowherbs (Epilobium species)

Epilobium montanum. Swindon, 17 June 2020.

1. OK, let's start in my garden, and probably in yours too, if you live in the UK or Ireland. This is Broad-leaved Willowherb (Epilobium montanum, Sw: Bergdunört) growing out of a flower-pot. It's a well-chosen name. The shape of the broad leaves, with their broad bases appearing heart-shaped (though if you look closely, they aren't), is unlike any of the others. The leaves on this specimen have gone a bit bronzy. 4-part stigma, fruit capsules about 7cm.

[Very common throughout the British Isles. Also throughout Sweden but only common in the southern half. Incidentally the Swedish name for willowherb, dunört, means "down-wort" -- as in feather-down, referring to the feathery seeds. It's a mystery to me why Linnaeus named this species montanum (which berg translates).]

Epilobium montanum. Swindon, 17 June 2020.

Broad-leaved Willowherb. This specimen has more typical coloration: green leaves and red stems. The stems are round and often finely hairy, like this one, but the hairs are small and don't stick out much. You can see one of the leaf-stalks (petioles): on this species it's pretty short, but it's there.

The lower leaves are always opposite each other, but further up the stem they become alternate.

Epilobium montanum. Swindon, 17 June 2020.

Broad-leaved Willowherb. Don't expect to see the leaf stalks from above!

Epilobium montanum. Swindon, 30 May 2020.

Broad-leaved Willowherb. Here are the flowers. The petals are pure pink (not purplish) and, at 8-10mm, a little larger than any of the other medium-size willowherbs. 4-lobed stigmas.

Epilobium montanum. Swindon, 20 June 2020.

Broad-leaved Willowherb. I guess you don't really need this photo, but I think it's interesting. It shows a bizarre group of Broad-leaved Willowherbs near to where I live; their leaves are all in threes rather than twos. 

Epilobium montanum. Frome, 30 July 2023.

Warning! The smallish leaves on late growth can look very untypical. They may have narrowed bases and they may lack the normal toothed edges. The photo above, I promise you, is Broad-leaved Willowherb! Keep your eye on the other features (e.g. four-lobed stigmas, relatively large flowers) and you won't go far wrong.

Epilobium tetragonum. Swindon, 17 June 2020.

2. Moving 100 meters up the road, this one is Square-stalked Willowherb (Epilobium tetragonum, Sw: Kantdunört). The pinkish-purplish flowers are quite small (5-7mm) and the stigmas are not lobed: they are simply club-shaped ("clavate" is the technical term). 

[Common in the southern British Isles, mostly England and Wales. Rare in the south of Sweden.]

Epilobium tetragonum. Swindon, 17 June 2020.

Square-stalked Willowherb. The capsules are quite long, typically 7-8cm but often reaching 10cm. That's an important difference from an otherwise similar species, Short-fruited Willowherb (6).

(Yes, if you want to distinguish Epilobium species there's no getting around it, you do need to carry a measuring tape or a ruler. Sometimes you'll be measuring the fruit capsules, sometimes the leaf-stalks, sometimes the open flowers.)

Epilobium tetragonum. Swindon, 17 June 2020.

Square-stalked Willowherb. The other easy-to-spot feature is the the very narrow strap-shaped leaves, more or less stalkless. Also, the four stem-ridges (two from each leaf-base) are more pronounced than on any other species, so you can see why it's called "square-stalked", though that's really a bit of an exaggeration. The stalk is still basically round, but with these four ridges.

The upper part of the plant is minutely hairy, though often the hairiness is rather sparse. Anyway, none of the hairs stick out. The technical term is "appressed". You may shrewdly suspect that they are not actually stuck to the stem surface, and you're right, as you'll see if you look through a x20 lens. But they do stay remarkably close to it. Get familiar with this lens view, to avoid confusion with late-season American Willowherb (5), whose reduced hairiness may look similar to the naked eye, but where the lens reveals patent (sticking-out) hairs.

Epilobium parviflorum. Swindon, 17 June 2020.

3. Right next to our previous plant, this very different one: Hoary Willowherb (Epilobium parviflorum, Sw: Luddunört). Small pinkish-purple flowers like Square-stalked Willowherb, but this time the stigmas are four-lobed. And of course the whole plant is densely hairy.

[Common in most of the British Isles, except the Scottish uplands. Common in some parts of Sweden: e.g. the far south, the Baltic islands and around Stockholm.]

Epilobium parviflorum. Swindon, 17 June 2020.

Hoary Willowherb. Emerging raceme, everything looking felty.

Epilobium parviflorum. Swindon, 17 June 2020.

Hoary Willowherb. Stems and leaves: all surfaces with sticking-out hairs. Stems round and unridged. Leaves becoming slightly narrower towards the base (unlike Epilobium montanum), and sessile (stalkless) but, unlike the next species, not clasping.

Epilobium parviflorum. Swindon, 20 June 2020.

Hoary Willowherb. An open flower, showing the four-lobed stigma.

A tip from Bob Leaney's guide (this is something I've fallen over myself): on this species the lobes can be prone to sticking together. So if your plant looks exactly like Hoary Willowherb but the flowers seem to have simple club-shaped stigmas, that'll be why. (You should be able to tease the lobes apart, if it really matters.)

Epilobium parviflorum. Swindon, 20 June 2020.

Hoary Willowherb. A typical well-grown plant: erect and quite tall, up to a meter.

Epilobium hirsutum. Swindon, 15 June 2020.

4. Another couple of hundred meters away, and here's the first flower of the year on this specimen of Great Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum, Sw: Rosendunört), much the most noticeable of the group and the only one you might describe as "well-loved". A usually tall plant (to 1.8m), though you often see runty specimens growing out of kerbsides. All surfaces noticeably hairy, though not quite as "felty" as the previous species. Clasping leaves. Big showy flowers (petals 10-16mm) Stigma four-lobed.

[Very common throughout the British Isles, except in the Scottish highlands. Only common in the far south of Sweden.]

Epilobium hirsutum. Swindon, 20 June 2020.

Great Willowherb. Five days later, and a lot more flowers.

Epilobium hirsutum. Swindon, 20 June 2020.

Great Willowherb. Close-up of stem and leaves, the leaf-bases clasping the stem. If you zoom in on the edge of the stem you can clearly see the two kinds of hairs; one kind is "patent" (sticks out sideways), the other kind is "appressed " (stays close to the stem surface).

Epilobium tetragonum (left) and Epilobium ciliatum (right). Swindon, 23 June 2020.

5. Just round the corner. The plant on the right is American Willowherb (Epilobium ciliatum. Sw: Amerikansk Dunört or Vit Dunört). The stigmas are club-shaped like Square-stalked Willowherb (2), but what's unlike it is the stem, fruit capsules and sepals are covered with small patent hairs, many with minute shining beads of liquid on the tips ("glandular"). (In late season the liquid beads may have disappeared and the sticking-out hairs may be much less apparent to the naked eye, but you'll see them through a x20 lens.)

[An introduced species but now common throughout the British Isles. Fairly common in southern and central Sweden.]


(NB The plant on the left above is Square-stalked Willowherb!)

Epilobium ciliatum. Swindon, 23 June 2020.

American Willowherb. Close-up showing the stems covered with patent hairs, many of them glandular. The other feature that differentiates it from Square-stalked Willowherb (3) is the short but definite leaf-stalk (petiole), 1.5-4mm.

Epilobium ciliatum. Swindon, 26 June 2020.

American Willowherb. A flower, showing the clavate (club-shaped) stigma. The flowers are only 3-6mm, the smallest among the medium-sized willowherbs. They're usually pinkish-purple but these ones opened very pale, virtually white (only turning pink as they faded).

That's not unusual (hence the alternative Swedish name Vit Dunört, "White Willowherb") but not so standard as on a species we'll be getting to later, Pale Willowherb (7).

Anyway, here's American Willowherb with pinkish-purple flowers:

Epilobium ciliatum with pinkish-purple flowers. Frome, 25 July 2025.

Epilobium obscurum. Frome, 19 June 2025.

6. Short-fruited Willowherb (Epilobium obscurum. Sw: Mörkdunört*)

Here's a species I should probably have written about earlier. It's apparently common throughout the British Isles but I never seem to see it, at least not knowingly. In the countryside it's associated with shady moist locations such as woodland rides, but it also grows in urban environments. When it turned up in my friend's garden between the Everlasting-pea and the Tutsan I finally got my chance to have a good look. 

If you think it looks very much like my earlier picture of Square-stalked Willowherb (2), you're right. The simple non-technical thing to say about Short-fruited Willowherb is that it's very like Square-stalked Willowherb except for having shorter fruit-capsules. "Short-fruited Willowherb" is another well-chosen name!

*NB, uncommon in the southern half of Sweden. 

Open flower of Epilobium obscurum, showing the club-shaped stigma. Frome, 20 June 2025.

Like Square-stalked Willowherb, Short-fruited Willowherb has club-shaped stigmas. Like Square-stalked Willowherb the leaves are more or less stalkless and rather narrow (though not strap-shaped). 

Like Square-stalked Willowherb the hairs on the stem are all appressed. There are plenty of appressed hairs on the upper stem, but very few on the lower stem (just the ridges). This distinguishes both species from American Willowherb (5), which has lots of patent glandular hairs on the stem and capsules. Make sure you check this, because American Willowherb often has short fruits and can look like Short-fruited Willowherb from a distance. 

Anyway, once you've narrowed it down to a choice between Square-stalked and Short-fruited, the capsule length should be decisive in most cases. The capsules on Square-stalked Willowherb are 7-8 cm or sometimes even more, but on Short-fruited Willowherb they are only 4-6 cm long. (Apparently the capsules do not lengthen much after flowering is over, so you can rely on measurements beneath open flowers.) 

If you're satisfied with that, great. But if you're like me, you won't really feel content until you've confirmed your ID with some other feature. 

Well, there are a couple of other differences, but they're hard to see. 

Short fruit and patent hairs on Epilobium obscurum. Frome, 17 June 2025.

Unlike Square-stalked Willowherb, Short-fruited Willowherb does have some patent (sticking-out) glandular hairs. They are in just one very specific place: the floral collar, also known as the hypanthium, i.e. the narrowing at the base of the sepals and the top of the fruit-capsule. Don't expect to be blown away by this feature! In my experience these patent hairs can only be seen with a lens. (If you zoom in you can see them clearly in the photo above.) The tiny drops of liquid are quite likely to have dried up. 

Uniquely among our willowherbs, Short-fruited Willowherb perennates by leafy runners. Apparently these can be seen even in summer, but as the species often grows as an annual there might not be any to see. I've never seen them (if I ever do, I'll take a pic). 

Lower leaves and stem of Epilobium obscurum. Frome, 18 June 2025.

For what it's worth, the lower stems feel a little less "square" than Square-stalked Willowherb (though still with four ridges), and the leaf-teeth are fewer and less pronounced. 

Good luck with this one. As far as I'm concerned the species fully lives up to its Latin name "obscurum"! (I believe this really means "dark", as in the Swedish name "Mörkdunört" which translates to "Dark Willowherb", but there's nothing especially dark about the plant, from what I can see... Another mystery...) 

Almost hairless lower stem of Epilobium obscurum. Frome, 18 June 2025.

Appressed hairs on upper stem of Epilobium obscurum. Frome, 18 June 2025.

Some aphids enjoying Epilobium obscurum. Frome, 15 June 2025.

Epilobium obscurum starting to release fluffy fruits. Frome, 7 July 2025.

Epilobium roseum. Frome, 24 July 2024.

7. Pale Willowherb (Epilobium roseum. Sw: Grendunört). 

All the willowherb species described up to now are common throughout most of the UK, but this is a different kettle of fish. It's widespread, especially in lowland England and Wales, but often in rather small quantities. It's a plant of damp places like streams and canals, but it does also occur in towns, for example at the base of a shaded wall where moisture lingers, which is where I found these ones.

[It's native to Sweden, as to England, but I'm not sure how common it is. Grendunört means "Branch Willowherb", which I suppose must refer to the long leaf-stalks.]

Epilobium roseum. Frome, 24 July 2024.

Here are the flowers. In the British Isles, they usually open white and only turn pink when they fade, but they can also be pale pink. 

The stigma is club-shaped, so the flowers (4-7mm) look much the same as on pale-flowered forms of American Willowherb. The key difference is that Pale Willowherb has long leaf-stalks.

Epilobium roseum. Frome, 24 July 2024.

The leaf-stalks can be 1cm, even 1.5cm on the lowest leaves, and even halfway up the stem they are clearly longer than 4mm which is the maximum length attained by American Willowherb. 

This is easy to see once you stop to examine the plant, but it doesn't show up at a distance. So, are there any clues that suggest Pale Willowherb at a glance? Kind of.

-- White flowers, club-shaped stigmas.

-- Damp, probably shady, location.

-- Stem and leaves green, without any red on them. 

-- Leaf-bases tapering gently to leaf-stalk. (E.g. not heart-shaped).

-- Leaf-veins deeply impressed (though to be fair this is pretty normal on most willowherbs).

-- Leaf-teeth fairly close-set. 

None of these clues is infallible, but if your plant matches them, it's worth checking out those leaf-stalks. Good luck!

Epilobium roseum. Frome, 24 July 2024.

Pale Willowherb: an upper leaf. Note the neatly tapering shape, deeply impressed veins, and distinct leaf-stalk. 

In this photo you can also see the mix of stem-hairs, some sticking out and glandular, some appressed. Abundant in the upper part of the plant and on the fruit capsules, but often much sparser below. (Much the same as American Willowherb, really.) 

Epilobium roseum. Frome, 24 July 2024.

*

This post (which I'll continue to add to) is intended to be a user-friendly and non-technical guide to these common but confusing plants, focussing on the features that I've tended to find useful. If you want to see me struggling to get to grips with the more technical aspects, see this post from a year ago:

http://michaelpeverett.blogspot.com/2019/08/medium-size-willowherbs-epilobium.html

https://bsbi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2022/02/BSBI-News-144-Epilobium.pdf

Here's a really helpful BSBI PDF by Bob Leaney in Norfolk, about common problems with identifying these willowherbs. He points out, for instance, that the glandular hairs on willowherbs don't actually have a glandular cell on the tip. The point is that once the beads of liquid have dried up they do not reappear. Hence it's best to check on freshly emerged growth.