Plant of the day is: Epilobium dodonaei or alpine willowherb

Plant of the day is: Epilobium dodonaei or alpine willowherb

Today's plant is a little trickier to find information on, but it is a real looker.  It reminds me of Dalea purpurea in habit.  The flowers are fantastic and feature characteristics of one of my favorite families (that sounded weird in my head), the Onagracea or willowherb/evening primrose family.  I assume willowherb is more of a European term.

See the narrow sepals between the petals?  Cool huh.

Family time:  Members of the family are generally characterized by 4 petals and 4 sepals.  The sepals are often very showy, which is why I REALLY like them.  They're kind of like extra icing on some already good looking flowers.  Examples you might be familiar with include the evening primrose Oenothera, as well as the ever popular Fuchsia (another bonkers cool flower).

Also, in the above picture is a fine example of a bract or a modified leaf or scale with a flower or flower cluster in its axil.  Look to the little green leaf below the bottom left flower.  It subtends (grows underneath) the peduncle (like a flower stem).  Fun stuff.

Here's the habit

Range/Culture:  Found in Central and Southern Europe in alpine to subalpine regions.  Mostly found in the mountains of France east to Western Ukraine and the Caucasus.  As is evidence from the above picture, it is a fan of well drained gravely soils.  It is clump forming and as a distinguishing characteristic from a few other Epilobiums, the flowers form in terminal spikes and flower stems are larger than E. fleischeri.  Leaves are sessile, fairly lanceolate/linear and alternate.

The juicy tidbit.  Wiki translate pages for the win.  This gains its specific epithet (species) name from the Flemish physician and botanist Rembert Dodoens, dedicated professor in Leyden and personal physician of Emperor Rudolf II.  

That's it for today folks, enjoy!

Quick addition:  Also a food source for a really cool bat moth Hyles vespertilio

Awesome.  Not sure on photo credit.  Don't sue me.  I'm sharing the awesome.