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L Y T H R U M Salicana.
Purple Loofejlrife. .
D ODE C A NDRIA Monogynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. inferior, with 12 teeth. Petals 6,
inferted into the calyx. Cap/. with 2 cells, and
many feeds.
Spec. Char. Leaves oppofite, lanceolate, heart-
lhaped at the bafe. Flowers fpiked. Stamina
twelve.
Syn. Lythrum Salicaria. Linn. Sp. PI. 640. Sm.
FI. Brit. 510. Hudf. 205. With. 441. Hull.
104. Relh. 182. Sibth. 149. Abbot. 103.
Curt. Lond. fafc. 3. t. 28, ,
Salicaria vulgaris purpurea, foliis oblongis. Raii
Syn. 367.
T h i s , one of our moft fliowy wild plants, is to be feen
uxuriantly flowering in July and Auguft on the banks of
rivers, ponds and ditches, where it makes a very ornamental
appearance. It loves a black boggy foil, but will grow in
more dry lituations.
The root is perennial, branched and woody. Stems ere&
and wand-like, from 3 to 4 feet high, quadrangular, leafy.
Leaves feflile, oppofite, entire, rough on the edge. Flowers,
in axillary whorls, which all together form a loofe fpike, of a
rcddifli variable purple. Calyx ribbed, with 6 long teeth and
as many fmall intermediate ones. Petals Handing within the
mouth of the calyx, attached by fmall points, oblong, waved,
all equal and regular. Stamina always 13, in 3 fets, incurved.
Sometimes the pollen of all the 12 antherae is green, at other
times that of the 6 inner ones is yellow. Stigma globofe.
Capfule elliptical, fmall. Seeds minute and numerous.
Occafionally the Hem has 6 angles, and then the leaves
Hand 3 together in whorls.
The other Britifli fpecies of Lythrum, much the moft uncommon,
may be feen v. 5. t. 292.