Fireweed
The hundred or so species of the genus Teucrium, which includes perennial herbs as well as small shrubs, are mostly distributed in the Mediterranean region and the Orient; only a few make their way further north into Europe, although they have no special requirements and will grow practically anywhere.
It grows in glades and woodlands, chiefly in rather hilly country, in broad-leaved and mixed as well as coniferous forests in central Europe, but is absent from Britain. It always serves as an indication of fertile soil with high mineral content, ranging from neutral to slightly acidic.
It is a shade-loving species, and plants such as this have chlorophyll-bearing bodies even in the epidermal cells. In open cultivated spruce forests growing at lower elevations, where S fuchsii has found a new home, it forms spreading masses which prevent the natural regeneration of woody plants and other herbs. It is a European species of inland regions, and is particularly plentiful in the Sudeten mountains.
In the old days the Slays used the dried leaves of Fireweed as a substitute for tea, and in parts of north-east Asia narcotic beverages are made from a mixture of Fireweed leaves and toadstools.
The long leaves – five times as long as they are wide – are nearly smooth on both sides. The flowering period is from July until September. The flowerheads are small, with only five to eight ray petals and eight involucral bracts. The achenes are hairy.
Fireweed flowers in July and August. The ovary develops into a long slender capsule opening by four valves to release a vast number of tiny seeds with white plumes that aid in seed dispersal. The effect, on ripening, is as if an eiderdown has burst, scattering feathers over the forest-floor.
