Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Lythrum salicaria
Common name
Purple loosestrife
Family
Lythraceae
Where found
Moist places or near water, often in swamps or slow flowing water. Widespread. A world wide species.
Notes
Perennial herb to 1.5 m high, shooting annually from the rhizome, hairless or hairy. Stems angular. Leaves mostly opposite each other, sometimes in whorls of 3, 1.5–7 cm long, 3–15 mm wide, tips pointed, base stem-clasping or rounded to auriculate. Flowers deep pink or bluish to purple, with 5 or 6 petals each 7–10 mm long. Hypanthium tubular, the tube 1.5–2 mm in diameter at the throat. Flowers in groups of 3–5 at the base of reduced upper leaves, forming a spike-like cluster. Flowering: spring–autumn.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
Uncertain Status (native or naturalised) in Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Lythrum~salicaria (accessed 24 January, 2021)
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