Purple Loosestrife
- Background. The Eurasian forb purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria, is an erect, branching, perennial that has invaded temperate wetlands throughout North America.
- Origin and Expansion. ...
- Biology. ...
- Description. ...
- Impacts. ...
- Control. ...
- New York Distribution Map. ...
Where did purple loosestrife come from?
It was introduced to the east coast in the early 1800s, possibly as seeds in ship’s ballast or as an ornamental. Now the highest concentrations of the plant occur in the formerly glaciated wetlands in the Northeast. In the West, purple loosestrife invades irrigation projects.
Where does loosestrife grow in the US?
Habitat and Ecology Native to Eurasia, purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) now occurs in almost every state of the US. It was introduced to the east coast in the early 1800s, possibly as seeds in ship’s ballast or as an ornamental. Now the highest concentrations of the plant occur in the formerly glaciated wetlands in the Northeast.
Is purple loosestrife bad for the environment?
Purple loosestrife can form dense, monospecific stands that help to crowd out native wetland vegetation, like sedges, cattails, grasses, and rushes. The plant itself is of little to no value for wildlife, both as a viable habitat and food source.
Where to plant purple loosestrife?
If the purple loosestrife gets a shady place, the beautiful flowers cannot develop optimally. In addition, the plant needs a lot of water, so a location on the shore, near a garden pond or a place with a high groundwater level is ideal. The perennial tolerates direct sunlight as well as waterlogging, but it also tends to overgrow.
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Is purple loosestrife native to North America?
Purple loosestrife is native to Europe and Asia. The species was unintentionally introduced to the United States' Great Lakes through contaminated solid cargo ship ballast as well as through the deliberate importation of seeds. The first discovery in the United States was in Lake Ontario in 1869.
Why purple loosestrife is a problem?
Purple loosestrife is found along waterways, marshes and wetlands. It prefers sun, but, like most invasive weeds, it adapts well in many soil types. It grows into dense plantings, reduces then eliminating wildlife. Unfortunately, this plant is not liked by birds, mammals, or waterfowl.
Is purple loosestrife invasive in Europe?
Currently, purple loosestrife is considered a serious threat to wetlands as it aggressively invades such areas and displaces native species (Blossey and Schroeder 1995, Hight et al 1995, Lindgren et al 1998, but see Hager and McCoy 1998).
Is all purple loosestrife invasive?
It is considered to be invasive because it grows rapidly, produces many seeds and has no natural predators. The plant quickly establishes itself and crowds out native wetland plants. Never plant any variety of purple loosestrife in your garden.
Are there any benefits of purple loosestrife?
The plant itself benefits few foraging animals, although it can be a source of nectar for bees. Where purple loosestrife is the dominant species, there is often a decline in some bird populations, such as marsh wrens. Water-loving mammals such as muskrat and beaver prefer cattail marshes over purple loosestrife.
What are the benefits of purple loosestrife?
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) known as "Tibbi hevhulma" in Turkish is used for its several beneficial health effects against as diarrhea, chronic intestinal catarrh, hemorrhoid and eczema in the form of a decoction or a fluid extract and to treat varicose veins, bleeding of the gums, hemorrhoid and eczema, ...
What animals eat purple loosestrife?
Purple loosestrife has no natural predators, such as disease or insects on this continent; therefore, it has an incredible ability to out-compete native vegetation and to form dense stands.
What is being done to stop purple loosestrife?
Glyphosate herbicides are very effective for killing purple loosestrife. Glyphosate is available under multiple trade names. Only aquatic formulations of glyphosate (such as Rodeo, Pondmaster and Eagre) may be used to control purple loosestrife at aquatic sites.
Is purple loosestrife beneficial to animals?
They provide critical food sources for a myriad of insect, bird, mammal, amphibian and fish species. They provide breeding habitat for an enormous number of bird species, as well as other animals. These are just a few of the reasons wetlands are important to plants and animals (including humans).
Is purple loosestrife edible?
Leaves and roots are edible. Roots are best gathered in the autumn and the leaves in the early summer. Several sources say to cook the edible parts of purple loosestrife before consuming. It is reported to contain flavonoids, polyphenols and tannins.
Can you plant purple loosestrife?
Purple loosestrife is hardy and can be planted in autumn or spring, or in mild spells during winter. If planting in the shallow water at the edge of a pond or stream, plant into an aquatic planting container (a mesh basket) makes pond management easier in future when it becomes necessary to restrict or divide plants.
What consumes purple loosestrife?
The root boring beetle (Hylobius transversovittatus) and two species of leaf eating beetles, Galerucella calmariensis and Galerucaella pusilla have been proven effective against purple loosestrife. These beetles damage the root system, stunt growth and reduce seed production of the plant.
How bad is purple loosestrife?
Purple loosestrife is poisonous to animals and humans. It contains alkaloids that prevent the animal's blood cells from absorbing oxygen. Symptoms of poisoning include dizziness, weakness, slow heart rates, difficulty breathing, and sometimes death.
How does purple loosestrife affect humans?
People use purple loosestrife as a tea for diarrhea, menstrual problems, and bacterial infections. Purple loosestrife is sometimes applied directly to the affected area for varicose veins, bleeding gums, hemorrhoids, and eczema, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses.
What kind of damage does the purple loosestrife do?
Purple loosestrife negatively affects both wildlife and agriculture. It displaces and replaces native flora and fauna, eliminating food, nesting and shelter for wildlife. Purple loosestrife forms a single-species stand that no bird, mammal, or fish depends upon, and germinates faster than many native wetland species.
Why are purple loosestrife considered an invasive species?
Purple loosestrife is a wetland plant native to Europe and Asia that was brought to North America in the early 19th century. This highly invasive plant was likely introduced when its seeds were included in soil used as ballast in European sailing ships and discarded in North America.
Videos
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Selected Resources
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Citations
Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Lythrum salicaria. [Accessed Sep 10, 2014].
Did you know?
Introduced into North America in the 19th century, purple-loosestrife is now an invasive weed, forming impenetrable stands that are unsuitable as cover for native animals and shade out native plants.
What is a purple loosestrife?
Purple-loosestrife is a tall plant, with large, pink flower spikes and long green leaves in opposite pairs up the stem.
Where are reedbeds found?
Found in the zone between water and land, reedbeds are transitional habitats. Thickly vegetated yet waterlogged, they are home to…
What is a wildlife trust?
The Wildlife Trusts manage many wetland nature reserves for the benefit of the wildlife they support. You can help by supporting your local Trust and becoming a member; you'll find out about exciting wildlife news, events on your doorstep and volunteering opportunities, and will be helping local wildlife along the way.
Where do purpleloosestrife plants grow?
A tall plant, Purple-loosestrife can form dense stands of bright purple flower spikes in wet habitats like reedbeds, fens and marshes.
When do brimstones bloom?
Many tall stems can grow from a single root stock. It flowers between June and August, when its nectar becomes a valuable food source for long-tongued insects, such as Brimstone butterflies, Red-tailed Bumblebees and Elephant Hawk-moths.
How does dredging affect wildlife?
It not only reduces our native food supply and habitat for our wildlife, it also reduces water flow through areas, causing water quality to decline, increasing costs for dredging those waterways.
How to control a plant that is growing?
If you have existing plants, you need to control them. Don't let the pretty flowers fool you. For young plants, just pull them, bag and destroy the plants. You can dig older plants, but must be sure to remove all the roots, as remaining roots will sprout. If you are cutting them, the cut stems will just sprout new shoots and roots, creating even more of a problem.
Is purple loosestrife invasive?
Take this noxious weed seriously. Purple loosestrife may be beautiful in the garden, but the potential degradation of our wetlands because of this invasive plant is grand. Look for other alternatives in the garden. There are many perennial plants that will shine just as bright!
Is loosestrife a weed?
How can we control this plant? Pennsylvania has declared Loosestrife as a noxious weed. The inclusion of loosestrife cultivars was added to the noxious weed list in November, 2000. This means that "it is illegal to propagate, sell, or transport these weeds in the Commonwealth" PA Bureau of Plant Industry. This is to prevent further spread of this invasive plant.
Is Lythrum salicaria invasive?
They wanted to purchase some of those plants for their garden. What they were seeing was purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria. This invasive weed is misleading, as we typically think of pretty things as good. Native to Europe, this loosestrife has been grown in the US as a garden plant. It was used for medicinal purposes as well as a forage for bees and as an ornamental plant. It has now become a noxious weed across the US, particularly in the Northeast.
Can Lythrum be planted in seeds?
Don't plant it. Even Lythrum varieties advertised not to make seeds can cross-breed with the invading loosestrife to make seeds.
How does purple loosestrife affect the environment?
Impact of Introduction: Purple loosestrife adapts readily to natural and disturbed wetlands. As it establishes and expands, it outcompetes and replaces native grasses, sedges, and other flowering plants that provide a higher quality source of cover, food, or nesting sites for native wetland animals (U.S.EPA 2008). The highly invasive nature of purple loosestrife allows it to form dense, homogeneous stands that restrict native wetland plant species, including some federally endangered orchids, and reduce habitat for waterfowl. Purple loosestrife causes annual wetland losses of about 190,000 hectares in the United States (Thompson et al. 1987; Mal et al. 1997). The species is most abundant in the Midwest and Northeast, where it infests about 8,100 hectares in Minnesota, 12,000 ha in Wisconsin, over 12,000 ha in Ohio, and a larger area in New York State. Recent distributional surveys document the occurrence of monocultures in every county in Connecticut, where it has been found in 163 wetland locations (Ellis and Weaver 1996; Ellis 1996). At the Effigy Mounds National Monument (EFMO), combined populations of purple loosestrife cover an area of 5 to 10 hectares growing in regularly disturbed sites. This species has a major visual impact on the vegetation of EFMO, and it has the potential to invade and replace native communities endangering the areas' primary resources (Butterfield et al. 1996).
How does L. salicaria affect wetlands?
The invasion of L. salicaria alters biogeochemical and hydrological processes in wetlands. Areas dominated by purple loosestrife (Fig. 2) show significantly lower porewater pools of phosphate in the summer compared to areas dominated by Typha latifolia L. (Templer et al., 1998). Purple loosestrife leaves decompose quickly in the fall, resulting in a nutrient flush, whereas leaves of native species decompose in the spring (Barlocher and Biddiscombe, 1996; Emery and Perry, 1996; Grout et al., 1997). This change in timing of nutrient release at a time of little primary production results in significant alterations of wetland function and could jeopardize detritivore consumer communities adapted to decomposition of plant tissues in spring (Grout et al., 1997).
Why is L. salicaria considered a purple plague?
L. salicaria has been labeled the “purple plague." because of its epidemic devastation to natural communities. The species is included on the Nature Conservancy’s list of “America’s Least Wanted -- The Dirty Dozen” (Flack & Furlow 1996). In response to the alarming spread of this exotic species, at least 13 states (including Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Washington, and Wisconsin) have passed legislation restricting or prohibiting its importation and distribution (Malecki et al. 1993; Strefeler et al. 1996b).
Which loosestrife is the most competitive?
Among the species tested, Keddy (1990) found that purple loosestrife was the most competitive. In the Hamilton Marshes adjacent to the Delaware River, annual above-ground production of L. salicaria far exceeded all other plant species’ production combined.
How many flowers does lythrum have?
Remarks: Other species of Lythrum that grow in the United States have 1-2 flowers in each leaf-like inflorescence bract and eight or fewer stamens compared to L. salicaria, which has more than two flowers per bract and typically twelve stamens per flower.
What are the four species of purple loosestrife?
Four species have been approved for introduction for biocontrol of purple loosestrife and have been released: a root-mining weevil, Hylobius transversovittatus Goeze; two leaf beetles, Galerucella calmariensis L . and Galerucella pusilla Duftschmidt; and a flower-feeding weevil, Nanophyes marmoratus Goeze.
What is a purple loosestrife?
Purple loosestrife is an erect perennial herb in the loosestrife family (Lythraceae) that develops a strong taproot, and may have up to 50 stems arising from its base. Its 50 stems are four-angled and glabrous to pubescent. Its leaves are sessile, opposite or whorled, lanceolate (2-10 cm long and 5-15 mm wide), with rounded to cordate bases. Leaf margins are entire. Leaf surfaces are pubescent (USDA Plants Database 2008). Each inflorescence is spike-like (1-4 cm long), and each plant may have numerous inflorescences. The calyx and corolla are fused to form a floral tube (also called a hypanthium) that is cylindrical (4-6 mm long), greenish, and 8-12 nerved. Typically the calyx lobes are narrow and thread-like, six in number, and less than half the length of the petals. The showy corolla (up to 2 cm across) is rose-purple and consists of five to seven petals. Twelve stamens are typical for each flower. Individual plants may have flowers of three different types classified according to stylar length as short, medium, and long. The short-styled type has long and medium length stamens, the medium type has long and short stamens, and the long-styled has medium to short stamens. The fruit is a capsule about 2 mm in diameter and 3-4 mm long with many small, ovoid dust-like seeds (< 1 mm long) (USDA plants database 2008).
What is the biological control for purple loosestrife?
Biological Control: In 1992, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved several European beetle species to be used for the biological control of purple loosestrife. Galerucella calmariensis and G. pusilla feed on every part of the plant, which prevents it from dispersing its seeds. A species of root-eating weevils, Hylobius transversovittatus, was also introduced. The weevil destroys the roots of purple loosestrife plants, killing them before they can infest new aquatic environments.
How does purple loosestrife affect the environment?
Once established in a particular area, purple loosestrife can displace native plant and animal species, greatly reduce biodiversity, degrade wetland habitats, and block irrigation channels and waterways.
What does purple loosestrife do to the aquatic ecosystem?
Purple loosestrife can trap sediments, causing the aquatic ecosystem it is growing in to become increasingly shallow.
How to control purple loosestrife?
Chemical Control: For purple loosestrife populations greater than one acre, herbicides serve as an effective chemical control method . Glyphosate-based herbicides have proven to be effective at removing purple loosestrife, especially when applied to cut stems. However, only formulations labeled for aquatic use can be applied to plants in or around water.
Where did purple loosestrife come from?
Native to Eurasia, purple loosestrife was introduced to North America by European settlers in the early to mid 1800’s. Its seeds were carried in ship ballast and on livestock that were brought to the United States for trade. Given its pharmacological and ornamental prowess, purple loosestrife has spread to almost every state in the United States – excluding Florida – as well as all Canadian provinces. In the state of Delaware, purple loosestrife appears all over New Castle County, but only sporadically in Kent and Sussex Counties.
Where is the purple loosestrife native to?
The purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is native to Europe and Asia. It was naturalized in North America in the 19th century and took the continent by storm. However, the wild perennial from the loosestrife family (Lythraceae) spread there so much that in many places it is on sufferance and sometimes even fought. The common loosestrife in North America has been shown not to displace native plant species, and it is also a source of food for many insects. In the wild, the deciduous and robust plant grows on the edge of streams or ditches and within wetlands and waters.
Where does loosestrife grow?
In the wild, the deciduous and robust plant grows on the edge of streams or ditches and within wetlands and waters.
What causes a leaf spot on a lythrum salicaria?
It is a strong and insensitive perennial in which diseases and pests occur very rarely. Nevertheless, Lythrum salicaria can be affected by leaf spot disease. With this bacterial disease, dark, black and sharply rimmed spots appear on the lower and upper leaf side. The leaves first turn brown and then dry up. The disease is favored primarily by high soil moisture and rain. If the infestation is severe, the affected plants should be removed and put into the garbage not the compost. However, if only a few leaves are affected by the leaf spot disease, they can simply be plucked.
How long is a purple loosestrife capsule?
In late summer, purple loosestrife carries egg-shaped capsules three to four millimeters (0.12 to 0.16 in) long.
What does a purple loosestrife do?
No wonder that the purple loosestrife steals the show in many gardens.
How tall is a loosestrife?
With its 100 to 120 centimeters (40 to 48 in) high , bushy stature, the common loosestrife is a very large wild perennial. The edged, persistent stems are partially branched and grow from a rhizome. With age, the stems become woody on the bottom.
When do purple loosestrife flowers open?
The flowers open from July to September in the form of a narrow pseudospiklet at the ends of the stable stems.
Where is the purple loosestrife plant?
The purple loosestrife plant ( Lythrum salicaria) is an extremely invasive perennial that has spread throughout the upper Midwest and northeastern United States. It has become a menace to the native plants in the wetlands of these areas where it chokes out the growth of all its competitors.
When did purple loosestrife come to America?
Purple Loosestrife Info. Coming from Europe, purple loosestrife was introduced to North America some time in the early to mid 1800’s, probably by accident, but attempts at purple loosestrife control did not begin until the mid 1900’s. It has an aggressive growth habit and because it has no natural enemies (insects and wildlife won’t eat it), ...
What is the danger of purple loosestrife?
The greatest danger the aggressive spread of purple loosestrife plants present is to marshes, wet prairies, farm ponds, and most other aquatic sites. They are so prolific that they can take over a site in a single year, making loosestrife plant care difficult. Their roots and overgrowth form dense mats that choke out native plant life and, in turn, ...
How tall does a purple loosestrife plant grow?
The purple loosestrife plant, also called garden loosestrife, is a beautiful plant that can grow 3 to 10 feet (1-3 m.) tall with its woody angular stem. The very things that make it so dangerous to the environment make it appealing to gardeners.
Can purple loosestrife be pollinated?
Responsible gardeners will not plant any form of purple loosestrife, and info about its dangers should be passed along to others.
Can you use loosestrife seeds in wildflowers?
Seeds are still being sold and garden loosestrife seeds are sometimes packaged in wildflower seed mixes. Check the label before you buy. If your garden already contains purple loosestrife, control measures should be taken. As part of loosestrife plant care control, it can be mechanically or chemically removed.
Can waterfowl grow loosestrife?
Waterfowl avoid areas overgrown with the insidious loosestrife plant. Care and restoration of affected areas rely on the plants removal. In some states, noxious weed laws make it illegal to cultivate garden loosestrife. Care should be taken when ordering plants from states still unaffected.
