Chamaenerion angustifolium (Fireweed)-HAVE A COLLECTOR

NEWSC HAS A LOCAL ECOTYPE SEED SOURCE, SO THIS IS NOT A PRIORITY.

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA NRCS. Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide to plant species. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Where Commonly Found: Meadows, fields,CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT.
How to Identify:
(For unfamiliar words: Wikipedia Glossary of Botanical Terms).
Go Botany Key for Chamerion angustifolium Click on more images.
Missouri Botanical Garden’s description of Chamerion angustifolium
Flower Type:  The unscented pinkish purple flowers, varies with local ecotype,  are about 1″ across with 4 petals and 4 sepals.  Petals are narrow at the base and broaden to rounded at the tip.  The sepals are darker in color, long and narrow and occur between the petals.  Eight (8) long white filament arise from the center of the flower with large magenta anthers which shrivel and turn brown eventually.  The flower stalk is long and magenta. 
Flower Time:  July  – August
Leaf Arrangement:  Usually unbranched or sparsely branched smooth, angular, reddish stems with alternate leaves.
Leaf Type:  Willow-like lanceolate or linear, hairless leaves with smooth or slightly serrated leaves.
Height: 2′-5′
Seed Collection:  Collect the long seed pods before it splits and beings to curl open and winged seeds are dispersed by the wind.  Let dry and open and collect the seeds.

Attracts:  Bees, Butterflies
Use:  Naturalizing
Light:  Full Sun to Part Sun
Hardiness Zone:  2 to 7
Soils:  Medium
Notes: An aggressive naturalizing roadside plants, one of the first to establish on damp, freshly disturbed or burned sites, to form a stunning mass when in flower.
Native to Native to the Northeast, Northern Midwest, West US RARE IN NJ and parts of Midwest:   Biota of North America Program (BONAP) – North American Plant Atlas (NAPA).