E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of BC

Epilobium densiflorum (Lindl.) Hoch & P.H. Raven
dense spike-primrose (denseflower willowherb)
Onagraceae (Evening Primrose family)

Introduction to Vascular Plants

General:
Annual herb from a taproot; stems 15-100 cm tall, simple or branched above, peeling below; plant densely white-hairy to long soft- or stiff-hairy, sometimes glandular.

Leaves:
Alternate, except near base, lanceolate, becoming narrowly egg-shaped in the inflorescence,1-8.5 cm long, entire or remotely fine-toothed, upper ones hairy; unstalked or nearly so.

Flowers:
Inflorescence of crowded, densely-leafy, terminal and lateral spikes; hypanthium 1.5-4 mm long; petals 3-10 mm long, white to rose-purple, notched at tip; sepals 2-9 mm long; stigmas irregularly 4-lobed.

Fruits:
Capsules, more or less spindle-shaped, long-hairy, 0.4-1.1 cm long, very short-beaked, 4-chambered; valves split free of partition, the partition adhering to axis; seeds 3-6 per chamber, flattened, 1.2-2 mm long, netted, glabrous, brown, without tuft of hairs.

Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Origin Status	Provincial Status	BC List (Red Blue List)	COSEWIC
Native	S2	Red	E (May 2005)

BC Ministry of Environment: BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer.

Epilobium densiflorum may be mistaken for Epilobium torreyi, another rare species in British Columbia. The two species may occur together. E. desiflorum is distinguished from E. torreyi by its shorter petals, crowded inflorescence, lanceolate to ovate leaves, often ashy strigose or glandular hairs, and fruits with the septa free from the valves.

Source: British Columbia Conservation Data Centre

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