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