LYSIMACHIA DUBIA, 
DOUBTFUL LOOSE-STRIFE. 
Class. Order. 
PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
PRIMULACEjE. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
Levant. 
2 feet. 
Aug. Sept. 
Biennial. 
in 1759. 
No. 564. 
The name, Lysimachia, is compounded of the two 
Greek words, lusis makes, which signify the dis- 
solution of strife, — hence the English appellation. 
It is believed that the name was not deduced im- 
mediately from the original words, for the purpose 
of being applied to any plant; but adopted, in 
botany, after a celebrated king of Thrace, of the 
name of Lysimachus. Whether its regal sponsor 
discovered its habitation, or some virtue in the 
original herb, is not quite certain. Some such 
circumstance has been the alledged reason for the 
honour intended the warrior king. Seeing that 
kings could indulge in the quiet pursuit of botany 
and the art of healing, it may be presumed their 
subjects, at that period, demanded far less of their 
regal influence than at the present day. It must 
not, however, be forgotten that great allowance 
should be made for the figurative language of 
oriental poets. What plant was the Lysimachia or 
Loose-strife of Pliny is now uncertain, nor would 
the knowledge of it perhaps be considered very im- 
portant, notwithstanding the historian’s declaration 
that its calming virtues are so very efficient. He 
