Don, I grew up in southern Florida just as all those trees and shrubs you
named were becoming established there (and I included it in my thinking as
tropical). Living there was what caused my deep and abiding dislike for
introduced species of all groups.

Purple loosestrife is Lythrum salicaria, Lythraceaea. An absolutely
beautiful flowering marsh plant from Eurasia that completely takes over
marshes, rather like common reed (Phragmites communis) has done in the
northeast but--fortunately--not out here. It grows in dense shrubby stands
to about 2 m high, the top covered with spikes of red-violet flowers. It
is a handsome ornamental and was probably introduced for that reason. It
is abundant along Dodson Road and in other marshes in central Washington,
only locally distributed west of the Cascades. Perhaps it isn't in western
Oregon, I don't know.

I hope no tweeters are tired of reading about plants. They are very
important to birds and other wildlife, and I think it behooves birders to
understand something about plants and habitats. If you don't like plants,
please just delete (I think I was a little singed by the dog-poop flame).

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416