Released 2010-11-01

Fireweed, Epilobium angustifolium

After every fire there eventually comes regeneration. Vast swathes of burned out forest again show signs of life -- often quite quickly. The gorgeous, magenta-flowered plant known as fireweed is often one of the first plants to appear in seriously disturbed terrain -- that is how it came by its name. The disturbance does not have to be natural, either: in Britain during the Second World War, the plant became known as bombweed because of how quickly it appeared in bomb craters. (In 1944, Lewis Gannett wrote in the New York Herald Tribune: "[Fireweed] sweeps across the pockmarked city and turns what might have been scars into flaming beauty.") An aggressive colonizer, the plant needs lots of light and open spaces to grow, both of which are generally found in abundance after a fire. Seeds can lay dormant in the soil for years, waiting for the proper conditions to germinate. Not merely a few seeds, either: each plant can produce 80,000 seeds a year. Once established, root systems become extensive, which can result in a single plant creating quite a large patch.

Found in many parts of the world, often in very large patches, fireweed has received official recognition in several countries: it is the national flower of Russia and the territorial flower of the Yukon in Canada. Bees make honey from it, and fireweed candies, jellies, ice creams and syrups can be found. Young shoots and stems are a good source of vitamin C and pro-vitamin A, a fact not lost on the Yupik eskimos of yesteryear -- they preserved the peeled stems in seal oil for year-round accessibility. Various native peoples the world over have traditionally found many different uses for this prolific plant, from medicinals and teas to soups, salads, vinegars and ales; blanket stuffing and kindling, to twine and fishing nets. Fireweed is currently showing promise in several areas of modern pharmaceutical research.

This is a limited edition photograph with a total of 1000 photos printed across all sizes, as noted

"Nature is art brought to life: often beautiful and inspiring, always fragile and in need of loving care" -- Jodi Gaylord

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