Seasonal Wild Flowers

Latin name

Lysimachia vulgaris

Family

Primulaceae

Flowering season

July to September

English distribution

It is found throughout the country.

See the BSBI distribution map for Yellow Loosestrife

Habitat

It grows by fresh water and in marshes, fens, ditches and damp

woodland.

Description

Yellow Loosestrife is a native, semi-evergreen, hairy,

rhizomatous, spreading herb, growing up to 1.5m.

Flowers are in long spikes.

Each flower is up to 1.5cm and has 5 bright yellow corolla

lobes, which are are fused to about a third of the way up

(subcampanulate). They have pale glandular spots but are

not fringed with stalked glands (cf Dotted Loosestrife)..

The sepal teeth are hairy and bordered with orange-red.

There are 5 stamens with large yellow anthers and red filaments.

There is a single, long, yellow-green style.

The fruits are globose.

The leaves are up to 12cm, lanceolate to ovate, and in whorls

of 3-4 or opposite. They are hairy and dotted with glands.

It spreads by long thin rhizomes to form large colonies in

permanently wet habitats.