Loosestrife Family (Lythraceæ)
Purple or Spiked Loosestrife (Lythrum Salicaria) (European). Undoubtedly this species, which came to us from Europe, is the most beautiful of the genus.
The plant grows from 2 to 4 feet high and branches toward the top. The many purple flowers, making up the spike, each have six long petals and are trimorphous, that is, flowers on the same plant, have, relatively, three different lengths of stamens and pistils. Purple Loosestrife is found locally in swamps and on marshy borders of streams from Me. to Del. and westward.
Loosestrife (Lythrum alatum) is a tall, slender, native species growing 1 to 3 feet high, angular and branching. The deep-green, lance-shaped leaves are set oppositely on the lower stem and alternately on the upper branches. The flowers appear sparingly from the axils of the leaves near the ends of the branches. This species grows in moist ground from N. S. to Minn. and southward to the Gulf.