Serge has written:
> > >I gather there is a native species of Loosestrife (sorry, no latine name
> > >here).
> > >
> > >Is it common ?
> > >
> > >Is it easy to tell from the "invader" _Lythrum salicaria_ ?

Pardonnez moi, Serge--I completely misread your statement! My English at
fault, not yours.

There is one native species on the Pacific coast, _Lythrum hyssopifolia_,
which grows in marshy areas "from Wash. to Calif., e. U.S.; Europe"
(Hitchcock et al., Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest). It's like a
tiny version of _L. salicaria_, only 0.1-0.4 m high, the flowers somewhat
similarly placed and shaped but much smaller, 6-7 mm, and with relatively
longer fused hypanthium (tube) and relatively shorter petals, white to rose
in color. I've never seen it.

Lythrum, by the way, means "blood" in Greek, referring either to the
staining properties of the plant or the flower color (the name used by
Dioscorides).

Hitchcock et al. say of purple loosestrife: "The species is colorful
growing en masse, and is worth a place in the damper spots of a wild
garden, although it is not to be rated as choice." Bear in mind this was
published in 1961. I cherish the single plant we have growing in our pond,
as it blooms for a month each summer, and I'm reasonably sure it can't find
its way from there to any other fresh water.

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