Epilobium roseum(Schreb.) Schreb.

pale willowherb

WFO wfo-0000669712 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Epilobium roseum, photographed by euanmck
fig. a euanmck, CC BY 4.0 / 2020-08-01 / obs. 87652766

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
Smithsonian, US National Herbarium
Accession
US 3682629
Filed as
Epilobium roseum subsp. subsessile (Boiss.) P.H.Raven
Det. by
Wagner, W. L., (BOT), Smithsonian Institution - National Museum of Natural History (UNITED STATES)
Collected
V. Mikolas 1989-11-11
Origin
SK
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC0 1.0)

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 52 botanical countries

Regions where Epilobium roseum is native: Afghanistan, Altay, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Krasnoyarsk, Lebanon-Syria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Assam, East Himalaya, Myanmar, West Himalaya, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kriti, Netherlands, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AfghanistanAltayEast Aegean Is.IranIraqKazakhstanKirgizstanKrasnoyarskLebanon-SyriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTürkiyeUzbekistanWest SiberiaXinjiangAssamEast HimalayaMyanmarWest HimalayaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyKritiNetherlandsNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine
Native distribution of Epilobium roseum, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Netherlands NET
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
East Aegean Is. EAI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Uzbekistan UZB
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
East Himalaya EHM
Myanmar MYA
West Himalaya WHM

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

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.

Where it actually grows measured, from 333 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -12.7 °C -7.7 °C -1.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 20.3 °C 22.9 °C 24.9 °C
Annual rainfall 530 mm 701 mm 1,141 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 84 mm 113 mm 216 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 333 research-grade observations of Epilobium roseum that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 15 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.

  • Chamaenerion roseum Schreb.
  • Epilobium almaatense Steinb.
  • Epilobium consimile Hausskn.
  • Epilobium laetum Popov
  • Epilobium montanum var. parviflorum Wahlenb.
  • Epilobium nervosum Boiss. & Buhse
  • Epilobium nudum Schum.
  • Epilobium pilosum Kit. ex Hausskn.
  • Epilobium roseum f. umbrosum E.S.Marshall
  • Epilobium roseum var. albiflorum H.Lév.
  • Epilobium roseum var. lanceolatum Lej. & Courtois
  • Epilobium roseum var. subsessile Boiss.
  • Epilobium smyrnaeum Boiss.
  • Epilobium uliginosum Fries ex Hausskn.
  • Epilobium warakense Nábělek

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.