Fireweed sightings are spiking on nature-tracking apps right now
iNaturalist Community
Native Plants
If you've hiked through a recently burned or logged area this summer, the tall spikes of magenta flowers you noticed were likely fireweed, one of nature's fastest responders to disturbed ground.
Fireweed is a striking pink-flowered plant that shows up fast after wildfires, logging, or other land disturbances, which is exactly how it got its name. Right now, hundreds of people are photographing and logging it on iNaturalist, meaning it's blooming heavily across its range this week. It's a great plant to know because spotting it tells you something about a landscape's recent history.
Key Findings
463 research-grade fireweed observations were logged on iNaturalist in a single week
Fireweed ranks among the most-observed plant species this week across the platform
The species is a well-known early colonizer of burned, logged, or otherwise disturbed soil
chevron_right Technical Summary
Fireweed is having a big week on iNaturalist, with 463 verified sightings logged by citizen scientists across its range. This tall pink-flowered plant is famous for being one of the first to colonize burned or disturbed land.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Trending: fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium) — 463 observations this week
fireweed is among the most observed plant species this week with 463 research-grade observations.
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Species Mentioned
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Chamaenerion angustifolium is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the willowherb family, Onagraceae. It is known in North America as fireweed and in the British Isles as both fireweed and rosebay willowherb. It is also known by the taxonomic synonyms Chamerion angustifolium and Epilobium an...