Tufted Loosestrife

Notes:

Tufted Loosestrife is an erect native perennial of swamps, bogs and marshes that grows from 1 to 2-1/2 feet tall on unbranched stems that are green to purplish-red, and sometimes slightly hairy in the upper half. The leaves are lance-like, opposite in pairs, from 2 to 4 inches long and stalkless. Margins are smooth, the surface dotted. There can be scale-like leaves near the base of the stem. The inflorescence consists of structures called a thyrse that arise from the middle stem leaf axils. A thyrse is a compact branching inflorescence like the flower cluster of the lilac with a central stem for the flowers but with short side stalks that actually hold the flower clusters. The entire structure is contracted and in the case of this species it almost resembles an egg shape on a short 1/2 to 2 inch stalk. The flowers are small, about 1/3 inch wide with a yellow funnelform corolla with 5 to 7 lobes spread when open and are streaked or dotted with black or reddish-brown resin canals. The five stamens with their yellow filaments and anthers are twice as long as the corolla and this helps create the ball-like effect of the thyrse. The style single and is greenish-yellow and also protrudes. The corolla is twice the length of the green calyx which also has 5 to 7 lobes and is also streaked or dotted with resin canals. Seed: Mature flowers produce a small seed capsule containing several seeds that are shaken loose when mature by wind action on the stem. Habitat: Tufted Loosestrife grows in wet soils of marshes, bogs, and shallow water areas from a rhizomatous root system that is quite shallow, sometimes right at the surface. It likes wet feet and full sun. Names: Tufted Loosestrife was formerly in the Primrose (Primulaceae) family. Details of that change are given at the bottom of the page. The genus name Lysimachia is from the Greek for either king Lysimachus or from lysis meaning "a release from" and mache is for "strife". The legend is that Lysimachus, king of Sicily, was walking through a field. A bull chased him. He grabbed a loosestrife plant, waved it in front of the bull and it calmed the bull. In general then, both the common and the generic name refers to a supposed power to sooth animals or "loose" them of their "strife". The species, thyrsiflora, refers to the flower cluster being in the form of a thyrse - a panicle form contracted to an egg shape. The author name for the plant classification, 'L.' refers to Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), Swedish botanist and the developer of the binomial nomenclature of modern taxonomy. Comparisons: This species is very unique and should not be confusing with any other species in a marsh environment.