Host an Event Volunteer Join Tickets

Support the plant database you love!

Share

Plant Database

Search for native plants by scientific name, common name or family. If you are not sure what you are looking for, try the Combination Search or our Recommended Species lists.

Enter a Plant Name:
Or you can choose a plant family:
Chamerion latifolium (Dwarf fireweed)
Weyand, Phyllis

Chamerion latifolium

Chamerion latifolium (L.) Holub

Dwarf Fireweed, Broad-leaf Fireweed

Onagraceae (Evening Primrose Family)

Synonym(s): Chamaenerion latifolium, Chamerion subdentatum, Epilobium latifolium

USDA Symbol: CHLA13

USDA Native Status: L48 (N), AK (N), CAN (N), GL (N)

A low, bushy plant with clustered stems 4-24 in. tall. They bear pairs of somewhat waxy, bluish-green, lance-shaped leaves which increase in length up the stem. The leaves subtend a terminal raceme of large, four-petaled, rose-purple flowers.

Broadleaf Fireweed is a member of the evening-primrose family (family Onagraceae), which includes mainly herbs, rarely shrubs or trees with often showy flowers borne singly, in racemes or spikes, or in branched clusters. The family of about 17 genera and 675 species is found worldwide, but is especially abundant in temperate regions of the New World.

 

From the Image Gallery

10 photo(s) available in the Image Gallery

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial
Habit: Herb
Fruit Type: Capsule
Size Notes: Up to about 2 feet tall.

Bloom Information

Bloom Color: Pink , Purple
Bloom Time: Jun , Jul , Aug , Sep

Distribution

USA: AK , CA , CO , ID , MT , NV , OR , SD , UT , WA , WY
Canada: NL
Native Distribution: AK, s. in mts. to e. CA, ID, UT & CO
Native Habitat: River bars; stream banks; drier, mt., talus slopes

Growing Conditions

Light Requirement: Sun
Soil Moisture: Moist
Soil Description: Moist (usually) to drier, well-drained soils.

Value to Beneficial Insects

Special Value to Native Bees
Special Value to Honey Bees

This information was provided by the Pollinator Program at The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

Propagation

Description: Easily grown from seed.
Commercially Avail: yes

Find Seed or Plants

View propagation protocol from Native Plants Network.

National Wetland Indicator Status

Region:AGCPAKAWCBEMPGPHIMWNCNEWMVE
Status: FAC FACW FACW
This information is derived from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers National Wetland Plant List, Version 3.1 (Lichvar, R.W. 2013. The National Wetland Plant List: 2013 wetland ratings. Phytoneuron 2013-49: 1-241). Click here for map of regions.

Web Reference

Webref 38 - Flora of North America (2019) Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
Webref 36 - Jepson eFlora (2019) The Jepson Herbarium, University of California, Berkeley
Webref 23 - Southwest Environmental Information Network (2009) SEINet - Arizona Chapter

Additional resources

USDA: Find Chamerion latifolium in USDA Plants
FNA: Find Chamerion latifolium in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Chamerion latifolium

Metadata

Record Modified: 2022-12-07
Research By: TWC Staff

Go back