Epilobium canum (California Fuchsia (Native))

California Fuchsia / Hummingbird Trumpet (Epilobium canum) is the late-summer hummingbird flower of the West Coast, native from California north into southwestern Oregon and east into the Great Basin. The species was long called Zauschneria californica in the trade and you will still see that name on plant labels; in the 1990s the genus Zauschneria was absorbed into Epilobium based on molecular evidence, but the two names refer to the same plant.

From August into October, sometimes into November along the mild Oregon coast, twelve to twenty-four inch stems carry brilliant red-orange tubular flowers that look exactly like what hummingbirds are built to feed from. Migrating Rufous Hummingbirds heading south through the PNW in late summer, and resident Anna's Hummingbirds wintering on the Oregon coast, both rely on Epilobium canum at a time of year when almost nothing else is in full bloom. This is one of the single most valuable late-season hummingbird nectar plants in the Pacific Northwest garden.

Bumblebees and a few large native bees also work the flowers as secondary pollinators. The species epithet canum means hoary, referring to the narrow gray-green leaves with their fine pubescent surface that helps the plant shrug off summer drought and reflected heat.

NAEB ethnobotany records 12 documented drug uses across the Costanoan and Miwok peoples of central and northern California, including febrifuge, antihemorrhagic, kidney aid, and other medicinal applications.

Plant in full sun in lean, well-drained soil. Drought-tolerant once established. Spreads modestly by underground rhizomes to form a low colony two to three feet across. Cut back to the ground in late winter for clean regrowth. Salt-spray tolerant; works well in coastal-bluff and rock-garden plantings.

USDA Zone 7 to 10. Deer-resistant. Pairs naturally with Erigeron glaucus, Eriogonum umbellatum, Salvia clevelandii, Festuca rubra, and Penstemon heterophyllus for a late-season hummingbird-and-bee garden.