Habit: Annual to subshrub.
Leaf: generally opposite proximally (or clustered in axils), generally +- fine-toothed; veins generally obscure.
Inflorescence: generally raceme, bracted.
Flower: radial or rarely +- bilateral; sepals 4, erect; petals 4, notched; stamens 8, anthers attached at middle, pollen grains generally shed in 4s, cream-yellow; ovary chambers 4, stigma generally club-like, occasionally 4-lobed.
Fruit: straight, cylindric to club-like.
Seed: generally in 1 row per chamber, generally with white, deciduous hair-tuft.
Species In Genus: 165 species: worldwide except tropics.
Etymology: (Greek: upon pod, from inferior ovary)
Note: Incl
Boisduvalia,
Zauschneria. Most taxa polyploid; many with anthers +- = stigma self-pollinated; many hybrids. Taxa with alternate leaves moved to
Chamerion.
Jepson eFlora Author: Peter C. Hoch
Reference: Raven 1976 Ann Missouri Bot Gard 63:326--340; Wagner et al. 2007 Syst Bot Monogr 83:81--95
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Epilobium
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