Epilobium lactiflorumHausskn.

milkflower willowherb

WFO wfo-0000669284 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 1 observation

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 1 time, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Epilobium lactiflorum, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. a Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-07-24 / obs. 150204826
Epilobium lactiflorum, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. b Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 150204817
Epilobium lactiflorum, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. c Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 150204771
Epilobium lactiflorum, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. d Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 150204804
Epilobium lactiflorum, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. e Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 150204811
Epilobium lactiflorum, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. f Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 150204871
Epilobium lactiflorum, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. g Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 150204891
Epilobium lactiflorum, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. h Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 150204842

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
02734001
Filed as
Epilobium lactiflorum Hausskn.
Det. by
P. C. Hoch 1977-01-01
Collected
J. H. Christ 1941-08-14
Origin
US
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 34 botanical countries

Regions where Epilobium lactiflorum is native: Japan, West Siberia, Finland, Føroyar, Iceland, North European Russia, Norway, Sweden, Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Greenland, Idaho, Labrador, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Newfoundland, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Oregon, Québec, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wyoming, Yukon JapanWest SiberiaFinlandIcelandNorth European RussiaNorwaySwedenAlaskaAlbertaArizonaBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoGreenlandIdahoLabradorMaineMontanaNevadaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew MexicoNewfoundlandNorthwest TerritoriesNova ScotiaOntarioOregonQuébecUtahVermontWashingtonWyomingYukon Føroyar
Native distribution of Epilobium lactiflorum, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Arizona ARI
British Columbia BRC
California CAL
Colorado COL
Greenland GNL
Idaho IDA
Labrador LAB
Maine MAI
Montana MNT
Nevada NEV
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Mexico NWM
Newfoundland NFL
Northwest Territories NWT
Nova Scotia NSC
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Québec QUE
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Washington WAS
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Finland FIN EUROPE
Føroyar FOR
Iceland ICE
North European Russia RUN
Norway NOR
Sweden SWE
Japan JAP ASIA-TEMPERATE
West Siberia WSB

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 6 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Epilobium alpinum f. lactiflorum A.H.Moore
  • Epilobium alpinum var. lactiflorum (Hausskn.) C.L.Hitchc.
  • Epilobium canadense H.Lév.
  • Epilobium canadense var. albescens H.Lév.
  • Epilobium hornemannii var. lactiflorum (Hausskn.) D.Löve
  • Epilobium shiroumense Matsumura & Nakai

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.