Vot. II.] LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY. 473 
5. Lythrum Salicaria Ll. Spiked or Purple 
Loosestrife. (Fig. 2549.) 
Lythrum Salicaria L,. Sp. Pl. 446. 1753. 
Perennial, erect, 2°-3° high, glabrous or pubescent, 
at length much branched. Leaves opposite or some- 
times verticillate in 3’s, sessile, lanceolate, cordate or 
clasping at the base, 2’-3/ long, 3’’-5’’ wide; flowers 
purple, trimorphous, 6’/-8’ broad, in dense com- 
pound terminal interrupted bracted spikes; stamens 
8-10, alternately longer and shorter, even the longer 
ones little exserted; ovary short-stalked; fruiting calyx 
about 3’ long. 
In swamps and wet meadows, Cape Breton Island to 
Ontario, south to southern New York and Delaware. Said 
to be naturalized from Europe. June-Aug. Widely 
distributed in the Old World. English names, Spiked 
Willow-herb, Long Purples, Soldiers. 
6. PARSONSIA P. Br. Civ. & Nat. Hist. Jamaica, 199. 1756. 
(CupHEa P. Br. Civ. & Nat. Hist. Jamaica, 216. 1756.] 
Herbs (or shrubs in tropical regions), with opposite or verticillate leaves. Flowers 
showy, solitary or racemose, axillary, irregular and unsymmetrical. Calyx-tube elongated, 
tubular, 12-ribbed, gibbous or spurred at the base, oblique at the mouth, with 6 primary 
teeth and usually as many accessory ones. Petals 6, unequal. Stamens 11 (sometimes 12 
in our species), inserted on the throat of the calyx, unequal; filaments short. Ovary sessile 
or obliquely stipitate, with a curved gland at its base, unequally 2-celled; ovules several or 
numerous; style slender; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule included in the calyx, oblong, 1-celled, 
laterally dehiscent. Seeds flattened. [In honor of James Parsons, M. D., a Scotch botanist. ] 
About 180 species, natives of America. Besides the following, 2 others occur in the southern 
States. 
i, NON 1. Parsonsia petiolata (L.) Rusby. Blue 
has Wax-weed. Clammy Cuphea. Tar-weed. 
yy (Fig. 2550. ) 
s Lythrum petiolatum V,. Sp. Pl. 446. — 1753. 
7 
Cuphea viscostssima Jacq. Hort. Vind. 2:83. pl. 177. 1772. 
Cuphea petiolata Koehne, Engler’s Bot. Jahrb, 2:173. 1882. 
Parsonsia petiolata Rusby, Mem. Torr. Club, 5: 231. 1894. 
Annual, erect, very viscid-pubescent, branched, 6’—20 
high. Leaves slender-petioled, ovate-lanceolate, sca- 
brous, mostly rounded at the base and blunt-pointed at 
BO the apex, 1/-114/ long; flowers axillary, short-peduncled, 
| purple, 3/’-4’/’ broad; petals ovate, clawed; stamens 
sometimes 12; fruiting calyx swollen, about 4/’ long; 
capsule dehiscent before the seeds are ripe, the placenta 
projecting through the lateral orifice. 
In dry soil, Rhode Island to northern Illinois and Kansas, 
south to Georgia and I,ouisiana. Introduced into southern 
Ontario. Ascends to 3300 ft. in West Virginia. July—Oct. 
Family 86. MELASTOMACEAE R. Br. Exp. Congo, App. 5. 1818. 
MEADOW-BEAUTY FAMILY. 
Herbs (shrubs or trees in tropical regions), with opposite 3-9-nerved simple 
leaves, and regular perfect often showy but rarely odorous, generally clustered 
flowers. Stipules none. Calyx-tube adnate to or free from the ovary, usually 
4-5-lobed, the lobes imbricated. Petals as many as the lobes of the calyx, and 
inserted on its throat, more or less oblique, imbricated. Stamens twice as many, 
or equal in number to the petals, often inclined or declined, the alternate ones 
