ADVISORY:
Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)
DESCRIPTION:
Purple flowers in a dense spike. Flowers
showy, ½ - ¾” wide, with 5 or 6 petals.
The leaves are lance-shaped, somewhat
clasping the stem, and grow in pairs
or sometimes in whorls of three.
HABITAT:
Swamps, wet meadows, river margins
HABIT:
Forms large colonies, densely carpeting
areas to the exclusion of our native
wildflowers.
Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide.
p. 351.
“Purple loosestrife,
an alien from Europe, aggressively
crowds out other shore plants used by
wildlife as food. Consequently,
conservationists don’t particularly
relish its beauty and stage “loosestrife
pulls” in selected places where this
method of eradication may prove effective.
Cut stems left floating on the water
root quickly and plants readily reestablish
themselves.”
Cvancara, At the Water’s Edge. p. 148.
