Fireweed Seeds

This is an explosion of seeds from the fruit capsules of the Fireweed Plant, a perennial herbaceous plant native to North America and especially common in boreal forests. The flowers and the stems are bright pink-red, thus the name Fireweed. The seeds are tiny 2-3mm in length with white silky hairs 1 cm long. A single plant can produce up to 80,000 seeds a year. They are of course, wind-born and this is a colonizing plant that proliferates after fire (also a reason for the name Fireweed) or clearings and along roadsides and other disturbed areas. Seeds can remain dormant in the soil for many years.