LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY LYTHRACEAE 
LOOSESTRIFE 
Lythrum alatum Pursh 
In low wet places from southern Ontario to northern Georgia 
and west to Minnesota, South Dakota and Utah, the Loosestrife 
may be found blooming abundantly from June to August. It 
is conspicuous then because it often 
grows in masses and its deep purple 
flowers are showy, though small. 
The tall and wandlike stems are 1-4 
feet high, much branched, 4-angled and 
usually wing margined, but not hairy. 
The leaves are oblong-ovate to linear- 
lanceolate, and the bases are rounded or 
heart shaped, whereas the tips are acute. 
Dimorphous flowers are produced 
singly and nearly sessile in the axils of 
the upper leaves. The calyx tube is 
cylindrical, nearly straight and not 
spurred at the base. It is 10-14-ribbed 
and has 5-7 teeth with as many appen- 
dages in the sinuses. The 5 identical 
purple petals and the 5-7 stamens are 
inserted in the throat of the calyx tube. 
Stamens of the short-styled flowers 
extend beyond the corolla. The fruit is 
a 2-celled capsule. 
The Spiked Loosestrife, Lythrum Sali- 
caria L., is a European species scattered 
in swamps and wet places in Illinois. 
Its round, smooth to downy stems grow 
2-3 feet high, are mostly unbranched and 
bear many lanceolate leaves with clasping 
or heart-shaped bases. The reddish pur- 
ple flowers are trimorphic and in dense 
terminal and branching spikes. Each has 
4-6 petals and sepals, 8-10 stamens and 1 pistil. The calyx and 
bracts are greenish and somewhat covered with soft downy hairs, 
and the lobes of the calyx are much shorter than the awl-shaped 
appendages in the sinuses. The cylindrical capsule is generally 
2-celled and filled with many flat seeds, which are shaken out when 
the fruit bursts irregularly. 
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