Purple Loosestrife: What Does It Look Like?
What does Purple loosestrife look like?
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- Growth: Upright, semi-woody, and hardy perennial. Mature plants with dense bushy growth of one to fifty stems. Stems grow from two to eight feet tall and die back each year.
- Blooming period: Mid-June into September
- Habitat: Moist soil to shallow water sites, such as lakeshores, stream banks, marshes, canals, and ditches. Established plants can tolerate dry conditions for portions of the year.
- Flowers: Pink to reddish-purple flowers with yellow centers. Numerous flowers on showy, long spikes.
- Leaves: Usually arranged opposite each other in pairs that alternate down the stalk, linear shaped, smooth edged, and attached directly (without stalks) to four-sided stems. Tiny hairs usually present on leaves and stems. Leaves turn red for brief period in the fall, fade, and gradually fall off.
- Stalk: Square, semi-woody, and up to eight feet tall. Mature plants with many stalks.
- Seeds: Each mature plant can produce up to 2.7 million seeds annually. As tiny as ground pepper, seeds are easily spread by water, wind, wildlife, and people. Seeds in capsules that persist through winter; seed formation begins at the bottom of the flower stalk and progresses to the tip.
- Perennial rootstock: Roots of mature plants are extensive, creating a dense web above and below ground that chokes out other plant life.
- Click here for more scientific information on Purple Loosestrife
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