Dennis wrote:

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.

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Oregon has its share of purple loosestrife. It also has one of several
test sites for biological control near Corvallis. Beattles that attack
both the roots and the leaves have been imported from Europe to see if
there can be non toxic control.

Steve Hallstrom