Re: [SG] Gooseneck Loosestrife & Lythrum vars.

> Probably a variety of Lythrum, which is also called loosestrife. Terribly
>invasive in wetlands as Bob Axemear points out. But beautiful? You bet! There
>are some newer small varieties which are suitable for the garden.
>
>Clyde Crockett z5

Lythrum (Purple Loosestrife) should by no means be planted anywhere.  It
readily and rapidly escapes from cultivation by seeds or by fragments of
rootstock.  Despite its alleged beauty, it is turning thousands of acres of
wetlands in New England and elsewhere into a monoculture, crowding out
native plants.  It is one of the worst alien invaders on record, surely on
a par with kudzu.  Although nurseries which offer various strains of this
plant claim their particular varieties will not seed, it has been found
that most of them do anyway.

Please don't contribute to the spread of this monstrous plant.

Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@hsc.edu>
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