Description. This is the most conspicuous and beautiful of all the Willow-herbs, and is one of the finest of our wild plants. The root is large and spreading. The first leaves rise in a thick tuft, and are long, narrow, and of a beautiful deep green on the upper side, and of a silvery grey underneath; they have no foot-stalks, are perfectly even at the edges, and terminate in a point. The stalk rises in the centre of the leaves; it is thick, firm, upright, and five feet high. The leaves stand irregularly, but very beautifully, upon it; they are long, narrow, and even at the edges, of a deep green on the upper side, and a silvery white below. The flowers are large and beautiful: they stand in a long spike, and are of a fine deep red. The seed vessels are long, and the seeds winged with down.
Place. It is a native of our northern counties, where it grows in damp meadows.
Time. It flowers in June and July.