Wide-angled Loosestrife

(Lythrum alatum)

 

Color Photograph: Midwestern wetland flora: Field office guide to plant species. U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation Service, Midwest National Technical Center.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Wide-angled Loosestrife (Lythrum alatum)

Identification: Flowers small, pink, with 6 petals. Calyx elongate with sharp, apical teeth forming a vaselike receptacle for the flower. Flowers solitary in the leaf axils. Stem with 4 angles, sometimes with slight wings. Lower leaves in opposite pairs, upper leaves single. Lower leaves broadest at the base, sessile to the stem, and tapering to the apex. Plant 1 to 4 feet in height.

Distribution: Southern Canada and most of the eastern United States, although most common west of the Appalachian Mountains. Also found in the plains region and the Rocky Mountain states.

Habitat: Wide-angled Loosestrife is found in swamps and wet prairies.

Flowering period: June to September.

Wide-angled Loosestrife (Lythrum alatum)

Similar Species: 

The small flowers, four-angled stem, and the broad bases of the lower leaves will separate Wide-angled Loosestrife from other species of Lythrum.

Similar Species

No Similar Species