Lysimachia

Lysimachia congestiflora

As loosestrife ( Lysimachia ), also known as Yellow Loosestrife or Loosestrife, refers to a genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Myrsinengewächse ( Myrsinoideae ) within the family of Primrose ( Primulaceae ).

Naming

The botanical genus name Lysimachia refers to the Greek generals Lysimachus, one of the Successors of Alexander the Great used. The legend claims that Lysimachus first discovered this plant.

Description

In general, it is perennial, herbaceous plants, rarely, to shrubs. The leaves are undivided, entire and mostly opposite or stand in whorls on the stem; often they are alternate. They frequently have glands.

The flowers grow as panicle, cyme or raceme terminal or individually, to few or in clusters from leaf axils. The calyx is usually 5-piece, rarely 6-9 pieces. The five-fold, radial symmetry flowers are usually yellow, rarely white or pink; they have a bell-shaped or wheel-shaped crown. This is usually 5-piece, rarely 6-9 pieces. The stamens are free or fused at the base into a ring. The fruit is usually a spherical capsule.

Locations

Loosestrife species grow mainly in moist places, so on the banks of watercourses, ditches, on damp roadsides, in lowland forests, meadows and pastures. In many lowland species are more common than in mountainous regions.

Systematics and distribution

The genus includes about 150 species mainly in the temperate climate zones. The greatest species diversity reaches the genus Lysimachia in East Asia. In Central Europe the following species occur:

• Hain- loosestrife ( Lysimachia nemorum L.)
• Creeping Jenny ( Lysimachia nummularia L.)
• Dotted Loosestrife ( Lysimachia punctata L.); is occasionally cultivated as an ornamental plant in gardens and is often neglected
• Straußblütiger Loosestrife ( Lysimachia thyrsiflora L.)
• Common Loosestrife ( Lysimachia vulgaris L.)

Other types (selection):

• Purpurblütiger Loosestrife ( Lysimachia atropurpurea Murray ); it occurs on the Balkan Peninsula, in the Aegean Sea and Turkey
• Schwerähriger Loosestrife ( Lysimachia barystachys Bunge); it occurs in eastern Russia, Japan, Korea and China
• Ciliated loosestrife ( Lysimachia ciliata L.); it occurs in North America
• Snow Loosestrife ( Lysimachia clethroides Duby ); it occurs in East Asia (Russia, Korea, Japan, Taiwan ) and China
• Gedrängtblütiger Loosestrife ( Lysimachia congestiflora Hemsl. ); he was found in Asia (India, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan and China)
• Iberian Loosestrife ( Lysimachia ephemerum L.); it is found in Portugal, Spain, France and Morocco
• Fortune Loosestrife ( Lysimachia fortunei Maxim. ); it occurs in East Asia and China
• Henry Loosestrife ( Lysimachia henryi Hemsl. ); he comes in China (Hubei, Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan ) at altitudes between 300 and 1600 meters before
• Japanese Loosestrife ( Lysimachia japonica Thunb. ); he was found in Asia ( India, Kashmir, Bhutan, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan and China).