Common name: River Beauty, Dwarf Fireweed
Botanical name: Epilobium latifolium Family: Onagraceae (evening primrose family)
A deciduous perennial that grows to 1.0 meters (3.3 feet) high by 0.5 meters
(1.65 feet) wide and prefers many types of soil with a pH ranging from acid to
alkaline and partial to full sun with moderate moisture. This plant withstands
frost and has hermaphrodite flowers. Leaves narrow-elliptic, hairy beneath.
Four petalled purplish pink flowers are 5 cm across, in leafy spike-like
terminal clusters. Found in the Himalayas and the Uttaranchal hill stations.
River gravels, margins of
streams and damp slopes.
Medicinal uses: The entire plant is used in Tibetan medicine, it is
said to have a bitter taste and a cooling potency. Analgesic, antidote,
anti-inflammatory, antipruritic, antirheumatic and febrifuge, it is used in
the treatment of fevers and inflammations, plus also itching pimples.
| Photographed in Valley of
Flowers, Uttaranchal. |
|
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