Purple Loosestrife
Purple Loosestrife
(Lythrum salicaria L.)
Lythraceae (Loosestrife Family)
▲ mature, flowering plant in flower bed
▲ close-up of purple loosestrife flowers
▲ plants growing in the wild in Minnesota along a drainage ditch
Purple Loosestrife: (pp. 254-255, Weeds of the Northeast; pp. 360-361, Weeds of the Great Plains)
- a noxious simple perennial weed in Missouri
- brought from China as a cultivated, perennial flower
- semi-woody upright stems bear spikes of bright purple-pink flowers
- each plant can produce millions of seed per year
- prefer wet soils; often rapidly establish in ditches, wetland areas
- increase rate of sedimentation and fill-in of wetlands, destroying habitat
- although easy to control chemically, listed as noxious because of spread rate and difficulty in getting to areas where they are growing
- also, a leaf beetle biological control agent has been shown to be effective in controlling it in some northern states