The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Epilobium canum
Also called California Fuchsia, Zauschneria
A small, mound-forming subshrub native to dry slopes and chaparral in western North America, grown for its scarlet tubular flowers that attract hummingbirds in late summer and autumn. The key to growing it is full sun, sharp drainage and very little water.
Epilobium canum, also known as California fuchsia or Zauschneria, is a species of willowherb in the evening primrose family (Onagraceae). It is native to dry slopes and in chaparral of western North America, especially California. It is a perennial plant, notable for the profusion of bright scarlet flowers in late summer and autumn.
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 (from the resemblance of the flowers to those of fuchsias), hummingbird flower or hummingbird trumpet (the flowers are very attractive to hummingbirds), and firechalice.
As befits their origin, they prefer to be cultivated in well-drained soil exposed to full sun but protected from the wind, and need little watering. Epilobium canum subsp. canum is hardy to USDA zone 8a. Epilobium canum (or its cultivar(s)) is a recipient of the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit under the Zauschneria californica name.
A small number of hybrid cultivars have been introduced by various growers, in some cases by working from isolated populations, such as those on Santa Cruz Island off the California coast.
Chickweed Willowherb · Pimpernel willowherb · Great Willowherb · Marsh willowherb
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Epilobium canum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
