purple loosestrife

A perennial plant (Lythrum salicaria) native to Eurasia, having long spikes of purple flowers. It is naturalized in North America and often forms dense stands in wetlands.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

pur′ple loose′strife

an Old World wetland plant, Lythrumsalicaria, of the loosestrife family, having spikes of reddish purple flowers.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun

purple loosestrife - marsh herb with a long spike of purple flowers; originally of Europe but now rampant in eastern United States

Lythrum salicaria, spiked loosestrife

genus Lythrum, Lythrum - loosestrife

loosestrife - any of numerous herbs and subshrubs of the genus Lythrum

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

Pretty, indeed - but it turned out this was actually purple loosestrife, an invasive species that threatens native plants and, consequently, the wildlife that depend on those plants.

Creature feature; Rhode Island's Roger Williams Park Zoo is one of nation's oldest

Many types of waterfowl will also avoid wetlands choked with purple loosestrife as it does not provide adequate nesting cover.

Gardening with native plants

Nid llysiau'r milwr coch (Lythrum salicaria; purple loosestrife) ydi hwn; ym mis Mehefin y bydd llysiau'r milwr coch yn dechrau blodeuo.

Oes 'na rigymau am glychau'r gog? AIL NATUR

History of purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria L.) biological control efforts.

Aboveground biomass and phosphorus concentrations of Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) and Typha spp. (cattail) in 12 Minnesota wetlands

Purple loosestrife (Lythrum virgatum) earns its keep for its strong, upright form and long blooming season, but it needs ample summer water.

Easygoing borders; with perennials and biennials the trick is in the combining

While parks devote scarce resources to fighting a plant such as purple loosestrife, for example, it's still available in some nurseries and is even planted in some roadside beautification projects because it's an attractive plant.

Combating THE Aliens

For example, purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) grows in dense infestations that displace native plant communities.

USING INTEGRATED VEGETATION MANAGEMENT TO Control Noxious Weeds

Such pests include European purple loosestrife, which now grows in 48 states and costs $45 million a year to control.

Unwelcome Invaders Moving In and Taking Over

Purple loosestrife, for example, a flowering-herb turned noxious weed that arrived from Europe in the 19th century, now chokes waterways in 48 states and cost $45 million per year to control, to a Cornell study.

The fish that ate everything (and other true tales); ravenous fish, noxious weeds, wild hogs, and deadly germs: Can anyone stop invader species? (Life science: food chains/invaders species)

The plants used in this study included the purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), the common cattail (Tyhpa sp.), and a common wetland grass (Panicum sp.).

Geological Sciences

It belongs to the same family as the notoriously invasive purple loosestrife, which is choking out natives on stream banks across the country.

Next loosestrife is already loose

We stayed away from pretty but non-native invasive plants like purple loosestrife and Japanese honeysuckle.