Appearance
It is a subshrub growing to 60 cm tall. Native populations of these plants exhibit considerable variation in appearance and habit.The small leaves may be opposite or alternate, lance-shaped or ovate, with short to nonexistent stalks, and range in color from green to nearly white. Overall shape may be matting or mounding, the plants commonly spreading via rhizomes.
The racemes of tubular or funnel-shaped flowers are terminal, and colors are mostly reddish, ranging from fuchsia to pink to red-orange.
The wide degree of variation has led to the description of many subspecies, mostly no longer recognised as distinct due to the extensive intergradation between them; the following are still recognised:
⤷ "Epilobium canum" ssp. "canum"
⤷ "Epilobium canum" ssp. "garrettii"
⤷ "Epilobium canum" ssp. "latifolium"
Naming
The name reflects that in the past it used to be treated in a distinct genus "Zauschneria", but modern studies have shown that it is best placed within the genus "Epilobium".Other common names include California-fuchsia, hummingbird flower or hummingbird trumpet, and firechalice.
The original genus name was in honor of Johann Baptista Josef Zauschner, a professor of medicine and botany in Prague.
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