Onagraceae FAMILY

Epilobium hirsutum

Edibility

2/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

One report says that the plant might be poisonous[ 179 Title Famine Foods listed in the Chiu-Huang Pen-ts'ao. Publication Author Reid. B. E. Publisher Southern Materials Centre; Taipei Year 1977 ISBN - Description A translation of an ancient Chinese book on edible wild foods. Fascinating. ]. Another says that it causes epileptiform convulsions[ 240 Title Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). Publication Author Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. Publisher Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. Year 1986 ISBN - Description Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader. ].

Botanical Description

Epilobium hirsutum is a robust, herbaceous perennial plant growing from a thick, rhizomatous rootstock. It forms a large clump of erect, branched stems that are woody near the base; it can grow up to 200cm tall[ 372 Title Flowers of India Publication Author Website http://www.flowersofindia.net/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description A wed site of native Indian plants, plus cultivated and naturalized species. It has good quality photos and terse details on more than 3,000 species and cultivars. ]. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine

Habitat & Origin

Origintemperate

Native RangeTemperate Eurasia from western Europe to eastern Siberia, China, Japan and Korea; Africa from the Mediterranean to S. Africa

HabitatStream banks, marshes, drier parts of fens etc; at elevations up to 360 metres[ 17 Title Flora of the British Isles. Publication Author Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. Publisher Cambridge University Press Year 1962 ISBN - Description A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures. ].