Picture of Fireweed / Rosebay Willowherb flowers – sign of coming autumn

Picture of fireweed flowers
Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera on July 28th, 2007. Click picture for larger view.

The fireweed, also known as Rosebay Willowherb in Britain, (Epilobium angustifolium) have started to flower so I had to take photos of them.
They are very nice to look at, but I have some mixed feelings about fireweed. The reason for this is that they start to flower late in the summer. Some weeks later they will produce millions upon millions of seeds (80,000 per plant!) that have white silky hairs and can be carried with the wind. It often looks like it’s snowing if there are lots of fireweed growing in the area. For me this is a clear sign of autumn and I would like the summer to last a bit longer 🙂

I looked up fireweed on Wikipedia and I had no idea that it could be used for food. Native Americans collects young shoots and mix them with other greens. They also use it for medicine.
Have anyone tasted fireweed? Would be cool to try it in a salad.

Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1250)
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 35 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Lens: Olympus Zuiko Digital 35mm F3.5 Macro
Location: Laupstad (Andørja), Troms in northern Norway

8 thoughts on “Picture of Fireweed / Rosebay Willowherb flowers – sign of coming autumn”

  1. Great image, makes us sigh sat here in 45 degrees C Dubai in our air conditioned appartment. Wherever we are we’re determined to smell the flowers and this amazing picture helps! Thank you, you have a great talent.

  2. Another fantastic photo. The blue sky looks wonderful….

    I wonder what firewood actually tastes like? Not sure if I’m keen to try it or not.

    –Steve

  3. Hi Thomas,

    We have got a few flowers to go so we are ok for a while.I remember watching a fishing programme once and he mentioned that as soon as it finishes flowering Autum is not far off, strange the things you remember.

    Cheers Mark

  4. Your photos are always so fantastic. They really provoke emotion. I especially love the one of the mountains and the clouds. This one is great, too. I love this blog.

  5. Steve: I’m wondering too, but I think the plants are too old now. Wiki said they get a bitter taste when they are getting older.

    Mark: Heh, that is really cool 🙂

    Thanks for the comments Debbie, Smell flowers and Blacksky!

  6. Pingback: Autumn colors in northern Norway - photos of fireweed and dwarf cornel

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