Purple Loosestrife

This plant can be extremely invasive.

Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum) - The common waterside L. Salicaria is the most familiar plant of this genus, and one of the showiest. It is well worthy of culture where it is not plentiful. The beauty of the ordinary wild kind is surpassed by the varieties originated in gardens, of which superbum and roseum are the finest. The color of these is a much clearer rose than that of the wild kind, and the spikes are larger, particularly those of superbum, which, under good cultivation, are 5 or 6 feet high. These plants are well worth growing by lakes or in boggy ground, and are easily increased by cuttings, which soon make good flowering specimens. Isolated plants in good soil make well-shaped bushes, 3 or 4 feet high and as much through, and look better than when planted closely in rows.

L. virgatum, alatum, Graefferi, flexuosum, and diffusum, smaller plants, and not so showy, are not without beauty.