LYTHRACEAE 



LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY 



SWAMP LOOSESTRIFE. WATER WILLOW 



Decodon 'verticillatus (L.) Ell. 



The Loosestrife family is relatively small and unimpor- 

 tant. Its members are widely distributed but are most 

 abundant in the American tropics. The flowers are di- 

 morphous or trimorphous, and 

 the calyx tube bears the sta- 

 mens and petals at its throat. 



The Swamp Loosestrife is not 

 uncommon in swamps and along 

 the borders of ponds and streams 

 from Maine to Minnesota, south to 

 Florida and Louisiana. The 4-6 

 sided stems of this perennial grow 

 2-8 feet high and are curved over at 

 the top. Often the submerged parts 

 have a spongy thickened bark and 

 are somewhat woody at the base. 

 The willowlike leaves are sometimes 

 opposite and sometimes whorled. 



Pink-purple trimorphic flowers 

 are found in the axils of the upper 

 leaves. The short calyx has 5 

 erect teeth and as many longer 

 hornlike processes between the 

 teeth. The corolla consists of 5 

 wedge-shaped petals. There are 10 stamens inserted on the 

 calyx tube, 5 short and 5 long and exserted. The fruit is a 

 globose, 3-5-celled capsule which is included in the calyx and 

 dehiscent along the dorsal suture. 



The Long-leaved Ammannia, Ammannia coccinea Rottb., is a 

 smooth branching herb 6-18 inches high, common on muddy banks 

 throughout Illinois. In such places and on wet sandy shores it may 

 be found from New Jersey to Florida and from Ohio to the Dakotas 

 and southwestward. The linear-hmceolate leaves, 1-3 inches long, 

 are paired and with somewhat clasping bases. The small scarlet 

 flowers are 1-5, sessile in the axils of the leaves. The 4 petals, with 

 the 4-8 more or less exserted stamens, are attached directly to the 

 top ot the 4-parted calyx tube. The styles are long and slender. 

 The capsule fruit bursts irregularly, scattering many fine seeds. 



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