Plant Identification

Purple Loosestrife
(Lythrum salicaria)

Fact Sheet , Management , Distribution 

Purple loosestrife is a hardy, herbaceous perennial that thrives in marshes or ditches. 
Introduced as an ornamental, it escaped gardens to colonize disturbed wet and disturbed areas.

Plant Stalks

Flower

Identification Tips Mature plants grow to heights of 1.5 - 8 ft. Leaves are lance-shaped and either grow opposite or in whorls of three or four around the stem. Stems are stiff and angular, often square-sided. In mid-late summer purple loosestrife produces pinkish purple terminal flowering spikes.

Common Native Look-Alike Plants
The native plants pictured below are often confused with the invasive purple loosestrife.

Fireweed Epilobium angustifolium   Vervain Verbena hastata

Steeple bush Spiraea tomentosa Photo G. Keyes Cardinal Flower Lobelia cardinalis