Garrett’s firechalice

Zauschneria garrettii A. Nelson, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 20: 36. 1907 (as Zaushneria); Epilobium canum var. garrettii (A. Nelson) N. H. Holmgren & P. K. Holmgren; Z. latifolia (Hooker) Greene var. garrettii (A. Nelson) Hilend; Z. orbiculata Moxley

Herbs not suffruticose. Stems 15–40 cm, ± densely spreading villous and glandular puberulent, denser proximally. Leaves opposite through­out or distally alternate, not fasciculate; blade green, ovate to broadly elliptical, 2–4.5 × 0.5–2.3 mm, coriaceous, margins prominently denticulate, 5–15 teeth per side, veins prominent, surfaces villous ± mixed glandular puberulent. Flowers: floral tube 19–24 mm; sepals 4–8 mm; petals 8–13 mm. Capsules 15–20 mm; sessile or pedicel 1–2 mm. Seeds 0.9–1.5 × 0.6–1 mm. 2n = 30.

Flowering Jun–Oct. Sandy or rocky soils on steep limestone slopes, rocky hillsides, roadsides, dry streambeds; 1200–3400 m; Calif., Idaho, Nev., Utah, Wyo.

Subspecies garrettii is a diploid taxon occurring mainly in the Great Basin from northwestern Wyoming (Lincoln, Park, and Teton counties) to southeastern Idaho (Bannock, Bonneville, and Franklin counties); northern Nevada (Eureka County); extensively in montane areas of Utah from the north-central to the southwestern part of the state, with a disjunct locality in the Abajo Mountains in southeastern Utah (San Juan County); and barely to the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada in California (Inyo County) and scattered in the desert ranges of the Mojave Desert in eastern San Bernardino County. In those areas in California, it overlaps and intergrades with subsp. latifolium.