Where is purple loosestrife from

What does purple loosestrife look like? Loosestrife plants grow from four to ten feet high, depending upon conditions, and produce a showy display of magenta-colored flower spikes throughout much of the summer Purple loosestrife is an erect perennial herb, with a square, woody stem and opposite or whorled leaves.

Flowers have five to seven petals. Leaves are lance-shaped, stalkless, and heart-shaped or rounded at the base.

Mature plants can have from 30 to 50 stems arising from a single rootstock. Why is purple loosestrife a problem? Each plant may produce over one million seeds, which can remain viable for several years. Seeds can be moved by water, vehicles, and wildlife. Loosestrife often spreads to additional wetland sites. Loosestrife restricts native wetland plant species, including some federally endangered orchids, and reduces habitat for waterfowl. How do we control purple loosestrife?

Purple loosestrife cannot be transported into or within the State of Kansas. Small infestations of young purple loosestrife plants may be pulled by hand, preferably before seed set. This invasive can grow up to one-and-a-half metres in height, and it flowers pink-purple from May to June. Its leaves are in pairs or whorls of three, lance-shaped and oppositely arranged on the stems, which are woody and square. Purple loosestrife has now naturalized and spread across Canada and the northern United States.

It can be found in wet meadows, river floodplains and damp roadsides. This plant aggressively degrades and lowers the value of a wetland for use by wildlife, clogs irrigation and drainage ditches and chokes out native vegetation. Plant material can be incinerated or rotted in black garbage bags in the sun for at least a week prior to disposal in a landfill.

To eradicate the population, control treatment will need to be repeated over multiple years. Stem fragments can regrow, however, and mowing or otherwise damaging the plants may spread vegetative propagules. Purple loosestrife flowers in full bloom. Mehrhoff, University of CT, Invasive. Seedlings have oval cotyledons with long petioles. The stalkless stem leaves are cm long, lance-shaped, and opposite. Leaf pairs often grow at 90 degree angles from one another, and leaves near the flowers are sometimes alternate.

Stems are upright, angular, and densely hairy. Mature plants can reach up to 4m in height, and older plants often appear bush-like, with sometimes dozens of woody stems growing from a single rootstock. The showy purple flowers have petals and grow in pairs or clusters on cm tall spikes. Seeds are small less than 1 mm in length and lack an endosperm. Purple loosestrife is competitive and can rapidly displace native species if allowed to establish.

Once established, the prolific seed production and dense canopy of purple loosestrife suppresses growth and regeneration of native plant communities. Monotypic stands of purple loosestrife may inhibit nesting by native waterfowl and other birds. Other aquatic wildlife, such as amphibians and turtles, may be similarly affected. The dense roots and stems trap sediments, raising the water table and reducing open waterways, which in turn may diminish the value of managed wetlands and impede water flow.

Small infestations can be pulled by hand, though care must be taken to completely remove the root crown.