Chamerion angustifolium, Rosebay Willowherb

Common Name: Rosebay Willowherb

Chamerion angustifolium, more commonly known as Rosebay Willowherb, with its tall, pink flower spikes, can often be seen crowding together in open spaces such as woodland clearings, roadside verges, grassland and waste ground.

In Britain the plant was considered a rare species in the 18th century, and one confined to a few locations with damp, gravelly soils. The plant's rise from local rarity to widespread weed seems to have occurred at the same time as the expansion of the railway network, and the associated soil disturbance. It became known as bombweed due to its rapid colonization of bomb craters in the second world war.

The reddish stems of this herbaceous perennial are usually simple, erect, smooth, 0.5-2.5 m high with scattered alternate leaves. The flowers have four magenta to pink petals, 2 to 3 cm in diameter.

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