GREAT YELLOW LOOSESTRIFE 109 



Great Yellow Loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris, L.) 



This is a marsh plant, not yet found in Glacial plant beds in the 

 Northern Temperate and Arctic Zones in Arctic Europe, North Africa, 

 N. Asia, and it is represented in Australia by a nearly allied species. 

 In Great Britain it is not found in the Peninsula province in N. Devon, 

 but is general in the Channel, Thames, and Anglia provinces, and 

 in the Severn province generally; in S. Wales not in Radnor; in 

 N. Wales not in Montgomery, Denbigh, or Anglesea; throughout 

 the Trent and Mersey provinces, except Mid Lanes; in the Humber 

 and Tyne provinces, except in Cheviotland; and in the Lakes pro- 

 vince, except in the Isle of Man. It occurs throughout the whole 

 of the W. Lowlands; only in Berwick, Edinburgh, Linlithgow in the 

 E. Lowlands; in the E. Highlands, only in Fife, Stirling, W. Perth, 

 Kincardine, S. Aberdeen; in the W. Highlands, in Dumbarton and 

 Mid Ebucles. It is rare in Scotland and local in Ireland. 



The Common or Yellow Loosestrife, not so common really as the 

 Wood Loosestrife and Creeping Jenny, is found here and there through- 

 out the country by the sides of rivers and other tracts of running water, 

 but owing to the drainage of the country it is less common than 

 formerly. Other plants of this type are FYogbit, Snakeshead, Fritil- 

 lary, and we may add the introduced Musk, which, once on the increase, 

 is now again decreasing. It is also a plant of peaty woodland swamps, 

 and grows frequently in ditches. 



The plant is erect in habit. Usually it is downy. The rootstock 

 is creeping, and the plant is stoloniferous. The stem is erect, rather 

 square in section. The leaves vary greatly in size, shape, and the 

 amount of down. In one form there are 3 leaves in a whorl, in 

 another 4. They are, if not whorlecl, opposite, egg-shaped or lance- 

 shaped, dotted. As with most verticillate leaves there are no leaf- 

 stalks. There may be black glands on the leaves below, or they may 

 be hairless or downy. 



The flowers are golden-yellow with red spots at the base, in terminal 

 or axillary panicled cymes, which are simple or compound. The corolla 

 is more or less bell-shaped, the 5 lobes entire, egg-shaped, not fringed 

 with hairs, without alternating teeth. The lobes of the calyx are 

 lance-shaped, fringed with hairs, with red margins. The 5 anther- 

 stalks are united below, and the stamens included. The capsule is 

 round. The seeds are rough with a border, 3-angled. 



Great Yellow Loosestrife is about 3 ft. in height. The flowers 



