[text on back]    Fireweed Epilobium angustifolium

Fireweed is found throughout the Yukon and Alaska, and is one of the best known northern wildflowers. This hardy plant grows up to two metres (six feet) high, thrives in thick patches, and is quick to colonize disturbed land - like clearings and old forest fire burns - which earns the plant its name. Fireweed's long flowering season begins in July and extends into September. The resulting swaths of vivid magenta are a northern icon, lining roads and providing a stark contrast to charred forest burns.