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September 11, 2007 : Lythrum salicaria
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Keywords: Lythraceae | Lythrum salicaria L. | northwest of Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, Scotland
Botany Photo of the Day will have brief written entries on weekends, holidays and my vacations from April through September. – Daniel
Another nod of appreciation to Stephen B of Scotland (aka stephenbuchan@Flickr) for contributing an image to BPotD (original via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool). Thank you!
Purple loosestrife (or spiked loosestrife or purple lythrum) is native to much of Eurasia, though it can now be found in other temperate and subtropical parts of the world (Australia, New Zealand, North America, southern Africa). In some of these regions, it is considered an invasive plant (see: Western Aquatic Plant Management Society and the Global Invasive Species Initiative). Efforts to manage it have included biological control.
Additional descriptive photographs can be viewed via Missouriplants.com.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at September 11, 2007 12:00 AM
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Posted by: Carol at September 11, 2007 8:35 AM
I love this site, you solve so many of my plant mysteries.
Posted by: Elaine Chrysler at September 11, 2007 9:48 AM
Lythrum salicaria - Z3 - RHS Index of Garden Plants, Griffiths
Lythrum salicaria - Z4-9 - A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, Brickell, Cole, Zuk
Lythrum, lithrum, from Gr. lythron, blood, in allusion to the colour of the flowers. Salicaria, sal-ik-ar-e-a, willow-like - the leaves, or willow-herb-like - the flower spikes. Plant Names Simplified, Johnson and Smith
Posted by: Beverley at September 11, 2007 10:04 AM
At a glance, this almost appears to be of the family Lamiaceae. How closely related are Lamiaceae and Lythraceae?
Posted by: Eric Simpson at September 11, 2007 5:44 PM
I was totally wondering the same thing Eric. According to Wikipedia though, it seems like the first clade they share is the class Magnoliopsida. So it looks like maybe theyre not that close. Convergent evolution maybe?
Posted by: Joe at September 12, 2007 1:44 AM
Loosestrife was celebrated in a southern Michigan community festival until a few years ago. The festival was cancelled, however, when persons expressing much concern over the negative effect the plant has had in choking our rivers and waterways managed to draw (negative) attention to the plant's abundance. The story I learned about the plant's common name relates to the "strife" experienced by persons, usually women, who sat at the water's edge, hard at work with the arduous task of "carding wool" with teasel, thus combing the purple flower's seeds from the fleece into the water ("looseing strife"). This activity then encouraged Loosestrife's distribution into the waterways.
Posted by: Willy at September 17, 2007 7:16 AM
Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!
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Respectfully,
Carol