Purple Loosestrife

(Lythrum salicaria)

~ By Gardnbee ~

About five or six years ago a local Gardener with whom I had become friends gifted me with a beautiful flowering herbaceous perennial plant called Loosestrife and he was simply thrilled with sharing it with me as much as I was in receiving this gift. Its blooms were a light, airy pinkish purple and the plant itself stood about a foot tall in its pot. It has been growing nicely ever since we planted it producing beautiful flowers that attract all types of Bees, Birds and other nectar gathering beings.

I was reminded of this plant when our committee decided to discuss Invasive Plants but frankly had forgotten a lot of the things I had looked up at the time pertaining to the growing and caring of it.

So off I went on another quest for information to share with all of you here. The name Loosestrife is the common name of different flowering plants. It can be distinguished from similar looking native plants like Fireweed; Blue Vervain; Liatris and Spiraeatheir by its angular stalks growing square in outline as well by its leaves, which are in pairs alternating at right angles and not serrated.*

As I kept on researching I soon discovered that Purple Loosestrife was regarded as an invasive species in our geographical area and some less informed groups even called it a "Beautiful Killer" among other poorly suited labels. In fairness it is described as a real problem to our creeks, rivers, roadside ditches and agricultural areas although it was not considered a "problem weed" until around the early parts of 1980.

This particular variety of Loosestrife is said to have arrived from Europe to North America sometime during the 1800s where it grew to its hearts content and was even considered a valued "native plant" at that time. Reports state that extracts were taken from various parts of the plant for medicinal use in treating ailments like diarrhea, dysentery, glaucoma, liver disease, wounds and even ulcers. So what happened to its reputation?

The answer to this question rests in a number of its characteristics discovered over time. Its growth patterns crowd out other plants; very little wildlife can eat it when it becomes too mature and woody and are unable to move through it when the stands of its growth become too thick. If growing close to shorelines or in deep water its root system will collect passing soil thus preventing free flowing movement of the water and effectively drying up many Wetlands which are sorely needed for environmental balance involving all life forms

Purple Loosestrife apparently thrives where ever excess nutrients are available such as with the use of fertilizers through farming as the land gets manipulated for the production of crops; through increased population needs like housing developments where land is dug up and pushed beyond its current placement. All of this human induced activity actually promotes the rapid growth of Purple Loosestrife which not only can produce new plants from any part that is cut and drops into water; it can grow new leader shoots from whatever stalk is remaining while sharing millions of seeds that will simply drop if the plant is cut after flowering. In fact it is said that seeds will remain productive for up to 10 years and can germinate with just 10 minutes of sunlight.

So what to do about controlling this prolific contributor to our open spaces? Chemicals are inadvisable due to their expense and environmental risks. Manual digging up of the plant or pulling on a small scale may be one way as long as care is taken but this would be next to impossible on as large a scale as needed for the management of this invasive plant. Biological control of Purple Loosestrife has been successful from about 1985 when research began into the use of a number of insects that feed on it using 2 species of Leaf Beetle and 3 species of Weevil in effectively wiping out a stand of this plant.* The difficulty is that perhaps the plant grows more quickly than the insects can keep up with due to constant human influence of one form or another co-mingled with the natural movement of the Elements.

Well about now you may be wondering what on Earth I did with my gift if all of this information is true. I kept it because my Purple Loosestrife’s name is actually "European wand loosestrife" (L.vergatum) which is exactly the same species of plant but the one I was gifted with was purchased from a local Greenhouse and certified as "sterile." Good thing eh?

*Resource and Photo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

         

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