Fireweed

Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium, formerly Epilobium angustifolium) is a circumboreal perennial named for its dramatic ability to colonize ground cleared by wildfire, logging, or other disturbance. It famously carpeted bomb sites in London after World War II, earning the local name 'bombweed.'

The plant produces tall, leafy stems topped by long racemes of four-petaled magenta flowers that open from the bottom upward over the course of the season. It is the official floral emblem of Yukon, Canada.

Fireweed spreads readily by both seed and rhizome, quickly forming showy colonies in open ground.

Recognize fireweed by its tall flower spikes of bright pink-magenta blooms.

• Flowers: Four rounded petals, magenta to pink, in a tall terminal spike that blooms upward
• Leaves: Narrow, lance-shaped, alternate, with a distinctive pale central vein and veins that loop within the leaf margin
• Stems: Erect, often reddish, unbranched
• Size: Typically 3 to 8 feet (1 to 2.5 m) tall
• Seeds: Slender pods split to release fluffy, white, wind-borne seeds

Fireweed is an easy, vigorous grower that can spread enthusiastically.

• Light: Full sun to part shade
• Water: Prefers consistently moist soil but tolerates a range once established
• Soil: Adapts to most soils, including poor and disturbed ground
• Temperature: Very cold-hardy; thrives in northern and montane climates
• Propagation: By seed or by dividing rhizomes; can become aggressive, so site it where spread is welcome
• Feeding: Rarely needed

Fireweed is native across the cooler temperate and boreal regions of the Northern Hemisphere, including North America, Europe, and Asia.

It is a classic pioneer species, rapidly colonizing burned forests, clearcuts, roadsides, riverbanks, and other disturbed open habitats, then gradually giving way as woody plants return.

It is widely seen in the wild in Alaska, Canada, the northern United States, Scandinavia, and the UK, and is sometimes grown in naturalistic and pollinator gardens.