You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: Celebrating Healing Plants - Issue # 4 - Fireweed (Epilobium Angustifolium)
I had no idea it had so many properties! It makes perfect sense when you think about how the plant prepares the ecosystem. Pioneering plants--the ones that come first after a fire--have so many incredible properties. I have mainly studied the pine tree for how it prepares the area for other types of plants.
Interesting. I never thought of the pine tree preparing the area for other plants for we live in a pine meadow and the trees are over 100 years old. All the needles and pollen they shed does help to build the sandy soil they are growing in. Tell me more about how they prepare the area for other plants. I'm curious.
Basically, pioneering species create the conditions for others to grow. Usually they are hardy varieties that can withstand direct sun and poor soil. They start to grow, creating shade for the plants below and transforming the soil with their needles/leaves. They usually eventually die off when the other species of the area have the right ecosystem and become strong enough to survive completely on their own. Sometimes you see a few remain or in areas where the poor soil is a result of the location itself, not an external event like a fire, they remain the dominant species.
There are a number of pioneering species that have been identified. Here is a nice article about them.
Great! thanks so much for the info!