Stats

Lifespan

Perennial

Size

Medium

Diet

Photosynthetic

Biome

Freshwater wetland

Range

Americas and East Asia

Movement

Sessile

Breeding

Seeds

Status

Common

About

This slender herb grows in damp meadows across North America and East Asia. Its seeds are attached to tufts of white hair that allow them to drift for miles on the wind.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   seed

   A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2. 2.
   sprout

   A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3. 3.
   sapling

   A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4. 4.
   mature

   Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

• View on iNaturalist →

Taxonomy

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Magnoliopsida

Order

Myrtales

Family

Onagraceae

Genus

Epilobium

Species

Epilobium ciliatum