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 ot 

 the upper leaves. The cah'x tube is 

 cylindrical, nearly straight and not 

 spurred at the base. It is io-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 lanceohite 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 i pistil. The calyx and 

 bracts are greenish and somewhat covered with sott 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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