365 Urban Species. #215: Fireweed

[urbpan]

Photos by urbpan. Location: near 6th and Broad Street, Seattle.

Urban species #115: Fireweed epilobium angustifolium

The ecological state of a city is that it is always in the first stage of succession. Concrete and asphalt resist colonization by all but the most aggressive plants. Most of the areas that have some welcoming soil are constantly mowed, resetting the sequence of ecological succession, making the city a place for pioneer plants. On the west coast, one of the most successful native pioneer plants is fireweed. It is named for the fact that it is the most conspicuous plant to grow after a forest fire. It was one of the first plants to grow in the ashy devastation of Mount St. Helens. The roadsides of Alaska are lined with fireweed, swaths of magenta bordering any summer drive. Fireweed is attractive to bees, and honey collected from hives near fields of this plant is noted for its light color and delicate taste. The fireweed in these pictures grows in a neglected edge of soil between a parking lot and a construction site in Seattle.

Comments

[psongster.livejournal.com]

It's funny you mention Mount St. Helens. I was there in July two years (three years?) after the volcano blew, and it was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen. As far as the eye could see, gray tree trunks were laid out in geometric patterns. It was soon enough that the woody parts had not yet really begun to decay, so if you looked at any hillside from a distance it looked gray. Geometric and gray. But if you looked down, anywhere, the ground was a riot of color, carpeted with flowers in bloom. Quite a lesson in the persistence of life.