Epilobium laxum Royle

Herbs perennial, erect, often clumped, with fleshy turions just below ground that leave brown basal scales. Stems 10-70 cm tall, branched or simple, strigillose and sparsely glandular above, glabrous below with raised strigillose lines decurrent from margins of petioles. Leaves sessile above, lower ones with petioles 2-8 mm; cauline blade ovate to broadly lanceolate above to obovate below, 2-7 × 1.2-2.6 cm, subglabrous except for sparsely strigillose margin and midvein, base rounded, margin sharply denticulate with 15-20 teeth per side or subentire below, apex subacuminate. Inflorescence and flowers nodding to suberect. Sepals 4-7.5 mm. Petals bright rose-purple, (7-)10-16 mm. Stigma subcapitate, entire. Capsules 3.5-7.5 cm, sparsely strigillose, erect and appressed to stem; pedicels 0.1-1 cm. Seeds brown, 1.2-1.5 mm, finely papillose, with short chalazal collar; coma white, detaching easily. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Jul-Sep. 2n = 36.

Erect perennial herb, forming extended turions or thick soboles; stems l0-70 cm tall, subrhizomatous base with brown scales, glabrous below the inflorescence except for elevated strigillose lines decurrent from the margins of the petioles. Leaves ovate, 2-7 x 1.2-2.6 cm, glabrous except for strigillose margins and veins, distinct veins, sharp serrate, apex acuminate, base rounded, sessile above, attenuate to petioles 2-8 mm long on obovate subentire lower leaves. Inflorescence nodding, strigose. Ovaries 1.8-2.1 cm, strigillose with admixture of glandular hairs, on pedicels 0-3 mm long. Sepals 5.5-7.5 x 1-1.5 mm, strigillose and glandular. Petals 10-14 x 4-9 mm, bright rose purple. Style 5-8 mm long. Stigma subcapitate, often exserted beyond the anthers at anthesis. Capsules 3.5-7.5 cm long, on pedicels 0.2-0.7 cm long. Seeds 1.2-1.5 x 0.44-0.62 mm, obovate or narrowly so, fine papillose, with an inconspicuous chalazal collar; comas 7-8 mm long, white, deciduous.

Xinjiang [India, Pakistan; SW Asia].

Distribution: Western Himalaya from Chitral to Kumaun and north to the Tien Shan range.

Along rocky streams in mountains; 2500-4300 m.

Epilobium laxum is one of the most distinctive species in the region, with its large flowers, ovate and acuminate leaves, sessile capsules and large seeds. In some populations the subcapitate stigma is exserted beyond the anthers, indicating some degree of outcrossing. This species is very common in the western Himalaya at middle and upper elevations.

Fl. Per.: Jul-Sep. Fr. Per.: Jul-Sep.

Epilobium amplectens (Bentham ex C. B. Clarke) Haussk necht; E. duthiei Haussknecht; E. sadae H. Léveillé; E. sub nivale Popov ex Pavlov; E. tetragonum Linnaeus var. amplectens Bentham ex C. B. Clarke.

Epilobium amplectens Benth. ex Wall., Numer. List 216, n. 6330. 1832, nom. nud. Epilobium tetragonum L. var. ? amplectens Clarke in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 2: 587. 1879. Lectotype: India, Utter Pradesh, Kumaun, Blinkworth in Wallich 6330 (K; BM, E, G, isolectotypes). Epilobium duthiei Hausskn., Monogr. Epil. 205, t. 9. fig. 54. 1884; H. LJv., Ic. Gen. Epil. t. 106. 19,10. Lectotype: Seed from India, Uttar Pradesh: Tehri Garhwal, Kedar Kanta, 3050-3350 m, Duthie s.n., cultivated at Kew 1880 (K, JE, isolectotype). Epilobium amplectens (Clarke) Benth. ex Hausskn., Monogr. Epil. 208. 1884; H. LJv., Ic. Gen. Epil. t. 102. 1910. Epilobium sadae H. LJv., Bull. Herb.,Boiss., Sir. 2, 7: 588. 1907; Ic. Gen. Epil. t. 85. 1910. Type: India, Uttar Pradesh: Tehri Garhwal, Rudugaira Gad, 4250-4850 m, 20.7.1883, Duthie 1046 (G, holotype; BM, isotype). Epilobium subnivale Popov ex Pavlov, Wiss. Ber. Mosk. Staatsuniv. 2: 329. 1934; Steinb. in Fl. URSS 15: 592. 1949. Type: on moist banks by small streams near source of River Topchak-su, Khr. Talasskiy-Alatau, Tien Shan range, Russian Turkistan, 24.7.1931, Pavlov 735 (MW, holotype, not seen; LE, isotype).