Narrative

Epilobium minutum is found from British Columbia south to Santa Barbara County in California and east to Montana. Because this plant is common after burns, it is sometimes called the threadstem fireweed. This tiny plant rarely exceeds four inches in height in the northern part of its range, and rarely exceeds 12 inches in height further south. The petals are white or pinkish.

The pink color will help identify this lifeform. This lifeform is common.

This lifeform is found in the Pacific States and Provinces of North America.

Epilobium genus (willow herb) has a wide distribution, but is most abundant in the temperate regions. There are about 200 species of herbs and subshrubs in this genus. The flowers have four petals. There are 37 species, one natural hybrid, and 15 named subspecies growing in greater North America.

Evening Primrose Family (Onagraceae) contains over 650 species of which most are non-woody. Although the petals can be 2-9, most species have four petals. The family is worldwide in distribution. There are 277 species now growing in greater North America.

Myrtiflorae Order is an assemblage of over twenty different families.

Dicots (Dicotyledoneae Class) are the predominant group of vascular plants on earth. With the exception of the grasses (Monocots) and the Conifers (Gymnosperms), most of the larger plants that one encounters are Dicots. Dicots are characterized by having a seed with two outer shell coverings.

Some of the more primitive Dicots are the typical hardwood trees (oaks, birches, hickories, etc). The more advanced Dicots include many of the Composite (Aster) Family flowers like the Dandelion, Aster, Thistles, and Sunflowers. Although many Monocots reach a very high degree of specialization, most botanists feel that the Dicots represent the most advanced group of plants.

Seed plants (Phylum Embryophyta) are generally grouped into one large phylum containing three major classes: the Gymnosperms, the Monocots, and the Dicots. (Some scientists separate the Gymnosperms into a separate phylum and refer to the remaining plants as flowering plants or Angiospermae.)

For North American counts of the number of species in each genus and family, the primary reference has been John T. Kartesz, author of A Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland (1994). The geographical scope of his lists include, as part of greater North America, Hawaii, Alaska, Greenland, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Kartesz lists 21,757 species of vascular plants comprising the ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants as being found in greater North America (including Alaska, Hawaii, Greenland, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

There are estimates within the scientific world that about half of the listed North American seed plants were originally native with the balance being comprised of Eurasian and tropical plants that have become established.