Chapters 6.19
6.19 - Fireweed including flowers (Epilobium angustifolium)
Gibson Cooke , University of Guelph, Canada
Suggested citation for this chapter.
Cooke,G. (2022) Greens, Fleshy Stems and Gourds. In The Student Encyclopedia of Canadian Indigenous Foods. Editor, M.N. Raizada, University of Guelph, Canada. http://www.firstnationsfoods.org/
Product introduction
The history, the surrounding culture, and lineature of Indigenous peoples and their respective communities are extremely important to the development and modern culture of Canada. Many indigenous traditions and foods are incorporated into Canadian culture today such as Maple Syrup, Butter Tarts, and Corn. All of the indigenous foods that have been incorporated into Canadian culture are extremely important to the image of Canada, and provide the much needed proper representation to the indigenous culture. This is why the continued incorporation of indigenous food is incredibly important for the future of Canada.
Fireweed, an important indigenous food, is a future crop prospect for Canada and surrounding western countries. Similar to asparagus, fireweed is a versatile, nutritious food source that can be prepared in a number of ways. Fireweed has been widely consumed by indigneous communities of Canada for as long as Canada has been established (Kuhnlein & Turner 2020). Not only as a food, fireweed was and has also been used for a variety of different alternative uses in the modern day and in the past. Fireweed has been recorded to have its flowers used as various colours of dye for clothing and garments, its stems and fibres used for the creation of blankets, garments, and even industrial applications such as rope. Fireweed even has its uses in the medicinal setting, with its organic chemical properties used in for swelling and pain relief (Kuhnlein & Turner 2020).
Setting and growth environment of fireweed
Fireweed's environmental application and impact is extremely vital to the health of earth’s ecosystems. Fireweed is a tall perennial plant that often grows up to 2.5m in height (Kuhnlein & Turner 2020). As the name suggests, it is often one of the very first plants to repopulate areas of natural disaster and forest fires, making it vital to the reconstruction of ecosystems all across the western world (Kuhnlein & Turner 2020). It is often found in large clearings, river gravels, open forests and fields, particularly in the western hemisphere (Vizgirdas 2020). The stems of fireweed often grow smooth edged, alternating leaves that can grow up to 8cm in length, which lead up to a large cluster of purple or violet flowers at the very top of the stem (Kuhnlein & Turner 2020). The flowers are typically four petalled, and contain long narrow fruit pods, which act as the carrier for new plants. The climate that fireweed thrives in is often home to locations that possess short summer and spring seasons, and longer, colder winters (Shebitz 2003). Fireweed is abundant across many habitats as well, and doesn’t depend on large amounts of precipitation to survive, which makes it an incredible colonizer. Being that fireweed is often found in most forests and fields, it is often in coexistence with plants such as hemlock, cedar, and lodgepole pine trees (Shebitz 2003).
As mentioned, fireweed has a better tolerance for the extremes of precipitation when in comparison to the staple crops used today. Studies conducted by Carroll et al. (2001) determined that nectar volume and flower size of Fireweed, Epilobium angustifolium, were affected by an induced drought period. However, the sugar content within the stem and flowering parts of fireweed went unaffected. These findings suggest that despite decreased growth size, the nutritional value of fireweed when exposed to extreme climates goes unchanged. This is in comparison to a crop like corn, which when exposed to severe climate conditions over the growing period, experiences extreme growth stunting, and often does not produce the required nutritional fruit (Smith et al. 2019). In addition to this, fireweed also has the capability of being used as a non-edible crop for the creation of products out of its fibres or seed tufts if the crop season does not yield a proper nutritional value worth consumption
Indigenous history
Fireweed has a long history of use by indigenous people in Canada and the United States. Used medicinally, as a food source, and even as a fibre for string and garments, the highly abundant and versatile plant was and is still used by many indigenous communities. In British Columbia, the inner tissue of the stems were often consumed by the Haida, Coast Tsimshian, Nuxalk, Sechelt, Squamish, Halkomelem, Nlaka'pamux, Lillooet, Shuswap, Carrier, Chilcotin, Gitksan, and Nishga (Kuhnlein & Turner 2020). According to Kuhnlein and Turner (2020), the Gitskan people of the Skeena often would often use the sweet, sticky inner contents of the stems as a form of natural cooking or baking glue. In Alaska, fireweed was also consumed by communities such as the Inupiaq Eskimo, who cooked, but more often preserved them in oils, a practice that is still utilized in modern day cuisine with similar relatives to fireweed such as asparagus. The Okanagan-Colville and Kootenay, according to Kuhnlein & Turner (2020), did not consume fireweed, but they found the perennial extremely nutritious for their livestock. Fireweed also has several close relative species which additionally have a rich history in indigenous culture, these similar species include dwarf fireweed, and river beauty, both of which are prepared and eaten in almost identical ways to fireweed.
Benefits of Use and growth
Potential benefits of the growth and cultivation of fireweed are immense and plentiful. Not only does fireweed have the potential to be an excellent alternative food source, the true potential of fireweed is the economic upside. Given that fireweed is extremely hardy, repopulates very easily, and has a tolerance for the extremes of precipitation, the cost of maintaining fireweed cultivation would be very little. Additionally, fireweed would require little to no equipment to harvest, and almost no processing would be required after the fact. These factors would suggest that the growth and harvest of fireweed would not only be good for the economy but the farmer themselves.
Fireweed, Epilobium angustifolium, also has plenty of environmental applications. Used as a pioneer plant, fireweed when correctly used can be introduced into ecosystems that have been damaged in order to restore health, as well as attract an increased population of native pollinators, increasing the health of all the other plants nearby.
Limitations
Although fireweed is extremely important for recolonization of damaged habitats, fireweed can also get out of control very easily. A single plant during its growth season can produce up to 80,000 seeds (Vizgirdas 2020), which when subject to the right conditions can be more harmful to the ecosystem than intended. If the fireweed plant gets out of control, the abundance of the extremely tall plants can cause detrimental effects including the crowding and suffocation of other vital organisms.
References
1. Arseneault, C. (2015). Fireweed. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/fireweed.
2. Carroll, A. B., Pallardy, S. G., & Galen, C. (2001). Drought stress, plant water status, and floral trait expression in fireweed, epilobium angustifolium (Onagraceae). American Journal of Botany, 88(3), 438–446. https://doi.org/10.2307/2657108
3. Hupp, L. (2020). Fireweed Field. Fireweed - Alaska's Summer Clock is Ticking. U.S Fish and Wildlife. Retrieved November 23, 2021, from https://medium.com/usfws/fireweed-c0b0f07d905c.
4. Kuhnlein, H. V., & Turner, N. J. (2020). Nutrient values of traditional plant foods. Traditional Plant Foods of Canadian Indigenous Peoples, 341–473. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003054689-6
5. Shebitz, D. (2003). Plant Data Sheet - Fireweed. Plant Data Sheet. Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://depts.washington.edu/propplnt/Plants/epilobium.htm.
6. Smith, D., McFadden, J., Wechsler, S., & Wallander, S. (2019). Corn in Drought. Drought-tolerant corn adoption jumps 20% in four years as US farmers strive to protect crop yields. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://geneticliteracyproject.org/2019/02/22/drought-tolerant-corn-adoption-jumps-20-in-four-years-as-us-farmers-strive-to-protect-crop-yields/.
7. Vizgirdas, E. (2020). Fireweed Range Map. Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium). United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved November 18, 2021,.