Decodon verticillatus (L.) Elliott

Swamp Loosestrife; Water Oleander; Willow Herb

Shrub

Perennial

Vascular

Swamp Loosestrife is a native herbaceous (woody near the base) perennial in the Loosestrife family (Lythraceae). It is native to most of Alabama. Swamp Loosestrife occurs in swamps, along pond and lake margins, and in beaver ponds. It is a shrubby clump-forming perennial with elongate, arching stems 6-8 feet in length that root at the tips. Stems are usually unbranched and are pubescent and green in color when young and glabrous and reddish-brown in color when older. Stems underwater are spongy-corky in texture with the bark peeling in long strips. Leaves are opposite or whorled, short petiolate, lanceolate to lance-elliptic in outline, glabrous above and pubescent below, with entire margins. Leaves turn shades of red, orange and yellow in the autumn. Flowers are in cymes in the axils of the upper leaves. Each flower has a green or pinkish cup shaped calyx with 5-7 curved finger-like appendages. There are 5-7 pink petals. The petals are crinkled with irregular margins. The fruit is a capsule with numerous reddish seed. Swamp Loosestrife is sometime available from native plant nurseries. It can also be easily rooted. It prefers waterlogged soils (or even shallow water) in full sun.—A. Diamond

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Native OBL (NWPL) G5 (Global Rank)

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