Short-fruited Willowherb - Epilobium obscurum

Medium to tall, somewhat hairy plant, with leafy above ground stolons produced during the Autumn, but not terminating in a rosette. Stems round, with raised lines. Leaves opposite, but the upper few alternate, oval to lanceolate, toothed, unstalked. Glandular hairs on hypanthium. Flowers purplish pink, 7 to 10 mm the petals notched, stigma club shaped.

One of four similar species; E tetragonum, E roseum and E ciliatum also have club-shaped stigma.   E roseum has many glandular hairs and longer petioles, and is on the VC55 Rare Plant Register.  E tetragonum has no glandular hairs and perennates with lax sessile leaf-rosettes. E ciliatum has numerous glandular hairs on the upper parts of the stem, sepals and parts of the fruits, and perennates dense leafy basal rosettes.   Hybrids also occur.  

The County Recorder has asked for a specimen of this plant to be retained for verification

Damp habitats, wet ditches, marshes, water margins.

July and August.

Perennial.

Fairly frequent throughout Britain.

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 76 of the 617 tetrads.