All features at a glance

General

• Latin name: Lythrum salicaria
• Synonyms: common loosestrife, common loosestrife
• Origin: native
• Plant family: loosestrife (Lythraceae)
• Special feature: tolerates waterlogging, reproduces rapidly by birds and the wind (asexual reproduction)
• several types?: over 40 types
• hardy?: yes
• poisonous?: no (no risk of confusion with similar looking poisonous plants)

Occurrence

Would you have thought that the purple loosestrife, unlike most other plants, is considered a neophyte in North America of all places? The perennial is native to Europe, Asia and the Australian continent.

use

• as bank greening
• as a pond plant (in shallow water, up to 20 cm deep)
• growing wild in moors, on beaches or on damp meadows
• Insect pasture
• often used for medicinal purposes in the past

Lighting conditions at the location

• sunny
• Penumbra is tolerated

Substrate

• humus
• nutritious
• sandy
• moist to wet soil

Optical features

Growth habit

• Height: 40 cm to 200 cm
• Growth habit: herbaceous

blossom

• Flower color: purple with a bluish red shimmering crown
• Flowering period: June to September (some varieties only until August)
• Shape: candle-shaped with 5 to 6 petals, double-serrated axis cup

Note: Did you know that the purple loosestrife has three different types of flowers? It has flowers with long pistils and short stamens, flowers with medium-long pistils and short stamens and a third type with short styles and long to medium-long ones Stamens. In botany this phenomenon is called trimorphic heterostyly. In addition, the pollen color of the individual species also differs. Some are green and tall, others are yellow and a little smaller.

leaves

• Shape: narrow to egg-shaped, heart-shaped, sometimes also round
• Arrangement: depending on the species, opposite, whorled or alternating
• hairy
• Color green

fruit

• Type: capsule fruits
• Shape: egg-shaped
• Size: 3 to 4 mm