LYTHRACEiE. (LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY.) 133 
or scattered mostly sessile leaves, and purple (rarely white) flow¬ 
ers. (Name from Xvdpov, blood; perhaps from the crimson blos¬ 
soms of some species.) 
* Stamens and petals 5 - 7: flmcers solitary and nearly sessile in the 
axils of the mostly scattered upper leaves: proper calyx-teeth often 
shorter than the intermediate processes : smooth. 
1. Li. Hyssopifolla, L. (Low Loosestrife.) Leaves ob¬ 
long-linear , obtuse , longer than the inconspicuous flowers; petals (pale 
purple) 5-6. (D — Marshes, coast of Massachusetts (and New 
York ?), perhaps introduced. — Pale, 6' - 10 r high. 
2. Li. alalum, Pursh. (Slender Loosestrife.) Tall and 
wand-like; branches with margined angles ; leaves varying from ob¬ 
long-ovate to lanceolate , mostly acute, the upper not longer than the 
flowers ; petals (deep purple) 6. 1J. — Michigan and southward. 
3. Li. lineare, L. (Narrow-leaved Loosestrife.) Stem 
slender and tall, bushy at the top, two of the angles margined; leaves 
linear , short , chiefly opposite , obtuse, or the upper acute and scarcely 
longer than the flowers; calyx obscurely striate; petals (whitish) 6. 
U — Brackish marshes, N. Jersey. Aug. — Stem 3?-4° high. 
* * Stamens 12-14 ^ twice the number of the petals : flowers crowded 
and whorled in an interrupted wand-like spike. 
4. Li. Salic aria, L. (Spiked Loosestrife.) Leaves lance¬ 
olate, heart-shaped at the base. — Wet meadows, Maine, E. Massa¬ 
chusetts, and Orange County, New York : also commonly cultivated. 
July. — Plant more or less downy, tall: flowers large, purple. 
3. DECODON, Gmel. Swamp Loosestrife. 
Calyx short, broadly bell-shaped, with 5 erect teeth and 5 
longer and spreading horn-like processes at the sinuses. Petals 5, 
wedge-lanceolate. Stamens 10, five very long, the alternate five 
shorter and later. Pod globose, 3-celled. — A perennial herb, 
with recurved or reclining stems, and opposite or whorled lanceo¬ 
late almost sessile leaves, with clustered pedicelled flowers in their 
axils. (Name from bUa, ten , and 68ovs, a tooth , from the 10-tooth¬ 
ed calyx.) 
1. D. verticillatum, Ell. (Lythrum verticiilatum, L.) — 
Marshes, common. July-Sept.— Smooth at the North, or downy: 
stems 2P-& 3 long, 4 - 6-sided ; the flowers purple, rather large. 
4. CtlPHEA, Jacq. ClJPHEA. 
Calyx tubular, 12-ribbed, somewhat inflated below, gibbous or 
spurred at the base on the upper side, 6-toothed at the apex, and 
12 
