''Lythrum'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of 38 species of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
s
native
Native may refer to:
People
* Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth
* Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory
** Native Americans (disambiguation)
In arts and entert ...
to the
temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
world. Commonly known as loosestrife (a name they share with ''
Lysimachia
''Lysimachia'' () is a genus consisting of 193 accepted species of flowering plants traditionally classified in the family Primulaceae. Based on a molecular phylogenetic study it was transferred to the family Myrsinaceae, before this family wa ...
'', which are not closely related), they are among 32 genera of the family
Lythraceae
Lythraceae is a family of flowering plants, including 32 genera, with about 620 species of herbs, shrubs, and trees. The larger genera include ''Cuphea'' (275 spp.), ''Lagerstroemia'' (56), ''Nesaea'' (50), ''Rotala'' (45), and ''Lythrum'' (35). ...
.
Description
They are
herbaceous
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials.
Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous"
The fourth edition of t ...
annual
Annual may refer to:
* Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year
**Yearbook
** Literary annual
* Annual plant
* Annual report
* Annual giving
* Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco
* Annuals (b ...
s or
perennial
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...
s. Typically they have square stems, narrow stalkless leaves, and spikes of star-shaped flowers in shades of purple, pink and white. They are especially associated with boggy areas, river banks and ponds, though in cultivation they often tolerate drier conditions. The species ''L. salicaria'' (purple loosestrife) and ''L. virgatum'' are found in cultivation.
[
]
Selected species
Species include:[''Lythrum'' L.]
USDA
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
PLANTS.[Common name for ''L. junceum'' ][Common name for ''L. wilsonii'' ]
Formerly placed here
*'' Cuphea carthagenensis'' (Jacq.) J.F.Macbr. (as ''L. carthagenense'' Jacq.)
*'' Cuphea melanium'' (L.) R.Br. ex Steud. (as ''L. melanium'' L.)
*'' Cuphea parsonsia'' (L.) R.Br. ex Steud. (as ''L. parsonsia'' L.)
* ''Cuphea racemosa'' subsp. ''racemosa'' (as ''L. racemosum'' L.f.)
*''Cuphea viscosissima
''Cuphea viscosissima'', also known as blue waxweed, clammy cuphea or (ambiguously) as " tarweed", is an herbaceous plant in the loosestrife family. It native to the eastern United States, where it is most often found in open, rocky calcareous ...
'' Jacq. (as ''L. petiolatum'' L.)
*'' Pleurophora anomala'' (A. St.-Hil.) Koehne (as ''L. anomalum'' A.St.-Hil.)
*''Woodfordia fruticosa
''Woodfordia fruticosa'' is a species of plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; ...
'' (L.) Kurz (as ''L. fruticosum'' L.)
Morphology
Some species of ''Lythrum'' are heterostylous
Heterostyly is a unique form of polymorphism and herkogamy in flowers. In a heterostylous species, two or three morphological types of flowers, termed "morphs", exist in the population. On each individual plant, all flowers share the same morph. ...
, such as the tristylous (occurring in three forms) ''L. salicaria''.
Ecology
''Lythrum'' species are used as food plants by the larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
The ...
e of some Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...
species, including the small emperor moth, the engrailed, the Hebrew character
The Hebrew character (''Orthosia gothica'') is a moth in the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. It is found throughout Europe.
Both the common and binomial names ...
, and the V-pug
The v-pug (''Chloroclystis v-ata'') is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found throughout the Palearctic region, the Near East and North Africa. It is well distributed in the British Isles except for the north of Scotland. The species was ...
.
As a noxious weed in the United States
The genus ''Lythrum'' is listed as a noxious weed in Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
, and Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
.
Fossil record
So far the oldest evidence of Lythrum is fossil pollen
Paleobotany, which is also spelled as palaeobotany, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (paleogeogr ...
from the early Campanian
The Campanian is the fifth of six ages of the Late Cretaceous Epoch on the geologic timescale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). In chronostratigraphy, it is the fifth of six stages in the Upper Cretaceous Series. Campanian s ...
, 82-81 Ma of Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
.[Graham, Shirley A. “Fossil Records in the Lythraceae.” Botanical Review, vol. 79, no. 1, 2013, pp. 48–145., www.jstor.org/stable/41809868. Accessed 20 Sept. 2020.]
References
Lythraceae genera
{{Myrtales-stub