PRIMULACE^E PRIMROSE FAMILY 



Lysimachia quadrifolia, L. 



Yellow Whorled Loosestrife, 



Four-leaved Loosestrife, 



June-August Five Sisters, 



Yellow Balm, 

 Cross-wort, 

 Liberty-tea. 



Lysimachia: in honour of King Lysimachus, a name which 



is derived from the Greek, a release from strife. 

 Quadrifolia: a Latin form for four leaves. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: moist soil. 



THE PLANT: erect, one foot to three feet high, simple or 

 rarely branched; the stem slender, with few short, soft 

 hairs or practically none. 



THE LEAVES: very rarely opposite or partly alternate, 

 usually whorled in fours or fives, sometimes in twos or 

 threes, sixes or even sevens; lanceolate to ovate; without 

 hairs on either surface; acute or tapering to a point at 

 the apex; short petioled or stemless; usually with black, 

 glandular dots; entire. 



THE FLOWERS: in the axils of the leaves, on stems which 

 are sometimes loosely hairy or smooth. "The star shaped 

 light golden yellow flowers are prettily dotted around the 

 centre with terra cotta red which sometimes extends in 

 faint streaks all over the corolla lobes." 



THE FRUIT: a capsule. 



This is very similar to the terrestris but the leaves 

 usually are in whorls of fours, as the name quadrifolia 

 signifies, and the red spots at the centre are single. 



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