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Northeast Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Four-flower Loosestrife
Lysimachia quadriflora Sims

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Primrose (Primulaceae)
Flowering: July-August
Field Marks: This loosestrife has linear, sessile leaves without apparent venation, 4-angled stem, and 5 yellow petals abruptly pointed at the tip.
Habitat: Fens, shores, bogs.
Habit: Perennial herb from slender rhizomes.
Stems: Upright, sometimes branched, slender, 4-angled, smooth, up to 2 1/2 feet tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves in a rosette, elliptic to obovate, up to 1 1/2 inches long, up to 1/2 inch wide, usually withered by flowering time; stem leaves opposite, linear, pointed or rounded at the tip, narrowed to the sessile base, up to 4 inches long, up to 1/3 inch wide, without teeth but rolled under along the margins, smooth except for the ciliate base, usually with clusters of smaller leaves in the axils of the major leaves.
Flowers: Borne in clusters of 1-4 in the upper axils, on smooth stalks up to 1 1/2 inches long.
Sepals: 5, green, united near the base, the lobes lanceolate, pointed at the tip, smooth, 1/6-1/4 inch long.
Petals: 5, yellow, united near the base, obovate, with a pointed tip, up to 1/2 inch long, with gland-tipped hairs on the inner surface.
Stamens: 5, attached to the base of the petals.
Pistils: Ovary superior.
Fruits: Capsules nearly spherical, 1/8-1/6 inch in diameter, with several tiny, flattish seeds.

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URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/florane/species/7/lysiquad.htm
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Page Last Modified: Thursday, 03-Aug-2006 11:39:25 EDT
Menlo Park, CA [caww54]