This image depicts Dwarf Fireweed alongside a stretch of Alaska’s interior Richardson Highway. Dwarf Fireweed or Epilobium latifolium grows to heights of 60 centimeters (two feet), branching from the base for a bushy appearance, its bluish-green leaves setting off sprays of large rosy purple flowers. Later, after the long seed pods open, they spread feathery white strands of fluff, each with its tiny seed, to the arctic winds.

This species grows in Alaska, northern Canada and into the northwestern U.S. In Asia it grows west to central Siberia, south into Kamchatka and around the Sea of Okhotsk. Dwarf fireweed is found on river bars, scree slopes, and in the mountains to at least 2,000 meters (6,500 feet). It is one of the few plants to do well in barren, often-scoured flood plains. Many a Beringian gravel barren is turned into a flower garden during late summer by this showy herb.

Order # - Wildflower 24