Chamaenerion angustifolium Seeds | Fireweed

Slender, pale brown Fireweed seeds with a tuft of silky white hairs at one end — Fireweed (*Chamaenerion angustifolium*): Onagraceae, native across the northern hemisphere and a pioneer of burnt and cleared ground.

LATIN NAME: Chamaenerion angustifolium

COMMON NAME: Fireweed

Plant Profile

Fireweed is a tall, unbranched perennial that rises one to two and a half metres from a network of pink, creeping rhizomes. The leaves are narrow and willow-like, arranged spirally up the stem, and in midsummer the top half of the plant carries a long spike of magenta flowers with four petals and a conspicuous white stigma; the flowers open from the bottom of the spike upward over several weeks, so the same spike shows buds, bloom and silky seed in sequence.

It grows right around the northern hemisphere and is one of the first plants to appear after fire, logging or any disturbance that exposes bare mineral soil. A burnt slope can turn green with it within a season, which is where the name comes from.

Science & Biotechnology

The species is a textbook pioneer: a single plant can release tens of thousands of light, plumed seeds that travel on the wind for kilometres, and the seed germinates only where light reaches bare soil, so a closed sward stays free of it until something opens a gap. Underground, the rhizomes spread laterally and send up new shoots, so a colony persists long after the seed year has passed.

Fireweed is also a mycorrhizal generalist, forming associations with a wide range of fungi, which helps it colonise sterile substrates such as mine spoil and volcanic ash. Its nectar is unusually accessible, and the plant is a major honey source in northern latitudes; studies of its pollination have shown that the protandrous flowers limit selfing by presenting pollen before the stigma becomes receptive.

Uses & Benefits

Young shoots are eaten cooked in spring, when they are still tender, and the peeled stem is said to taste faintly of asparagus. The leaves make a pleasant tea, and in Russia they are fermented to produce Ivan chai, a dark, malty drink that was once a major export.

The silky seed hairs have been used to stuff pillows and to spin a soft yarn, and the honey from fireweed is pale, mild and highly prized. In the garden it suits a wild corner or a bank where it can spread, but it is too vigorous for a small border and has become invasive in New Zealand and parts of Australia.

Growing from Seed

Fireweed seed must have light. Sow it on the surface of a fine, free-draining mix, press it down, and water from below or with a fine rose so that it is not buried; at 15 to 20 °C germination takes two to four weeks. Do not cover the tray, and do not let the surface dry out completely.

Plant the seedlings out once they have four or five true leaves, in full sun and poor to ordinary soil. The plant spreads by rhizome, so give it room or sink a barrier; on a bare bank it will do the work of covering the ground itself within two seasons. Cut the flowered stems before the seed fluff forms if the colony is not to travel.

Our Take

A generous pioneer with a long season, good honey and a place in the kitchen, but a plant that needs room. Give it a bank or a wild strip and it will do the rest.

Herb Seeds