I think this must be what was known as E.angustifolium which apparently is often cultivated as an ornamental plant, though would be easy enough for it to have arrived on the wind. Commonly known as 'Rosebay willow-herb' and 'Fireweed' in UK. Its phenomenal spread in the UK (150 years ago it was a local plant in UK but now widespread esp. in the South) is attributed to the increasing areas of cleared woodland and waste land. An early coloniser of bare ground, appeared on bombed sites after the London Blitz of WWII.
*I have some images of this taken in the UK which I shall post to help illustrate the characteristics of the plant better and avoid any confusion with what was E.latifolium.* Assuming it is correctly identified there have been nomenclatural/taxonomic change. For some time this and E.angustifolium have been transferred to another genus in the Onagraceae family. *This is now (according to most sources) Chamerion angustifolium*. The genus Chamerion is separated from Epilobium (most willowherbs in the Himalaya remain in Epilobium) on the basis of all leaves being alternate, flowers held horizontally, slightly zygomorphic, Whereas in Epilobium at least the lowest leaves are opposite, flowers +/- erect when open. The change of genus is accepted by senior British botanists. This species is very common in Kashmir and also Zanskar/Suru Valley (where I observed it in 1980) @ 2300-4850m. Flora of Lahaul-Spiti says frequent amidst stones & boulders. On Thursday, 13 October 2011 17:44:04 UTC+1, Prashant wrote: > Dear Friends, > This garden plant was seen in the guest house harden at Leh. > > Date/Time: 16-09-2011 / 08:15AM > Location: Leh, Ladakh > Habitat: Garden > Plant Habit: Herb (around 1m) > > Regards > Prashant > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "efloraofindia" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/indiantreepix. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
