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Varieties of Hybrid Loosestrife

Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) of the loosestrife family, is a perennial plant with spikes of purple flowers. It has several varieties of hybrids. The plant is native to Europe, Asia and southern Australia. It was brought to the United States in the 1800s and has become extremely invasive. Agriculture or Natural Resource Departments in most states strongly advise people not to grow it. In Iowa, for example, it is illegal to import, sell or distribute any form of purple loosestrife or its seeds.

Attributes
- Purple loosestrife blossoms from June to September and can cover acres of wetlands. It is beautiful, but very aggressive. Another species of plant, Lysimachia terrestris, also is known as loosestrife. These flowers, which include garden loosestrife, moneywort, fringed loosestrife and swamp candles, are members of the primrose family and not related to Lythrum. Most of them have yellow flowers, though they share the same habitat with purple loosestrife.
A noxious weed
- Purple loosestrife is listed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture either as a Class A noxious weed, Class B noxious weed, Noxious weed, Prohibited noxious weed, "B" designated weed/Quarantine, Invasive aquatic plant/Plant pest, Regulated non-native plant species, Nuisance weed or Invasive/banned, in nearly every state. It might be able to hybridize naturally as one flower type can only be pollinated by another flower type, and there is much variety among the plants. Purple loosestrife is pollinated by bees and butterflies and though it has many insect predators, including weevils and loosestrife beetles, this still hasn't slowed its spread.
How it spreads
- Purple loosestrife spreads as aggressively as it does because the stems grow from a single rootstock. It can even sprout from pieces of root left in soil or water.
Varieties
- Purple loosestrife invading a forest.
  
  Lythrum virgatum, 'Morden's Pink' and its varieties, 'Rose Queen,' 'The Rocket,' 'Morden's Gleam' and 'Dropmore Purple,' are perennial plants with spikes of pink flowers. They grow from 3 to 4 feet tall and about 2 feet wide. They prefer partial to full sun, and thrive in acid soil. They grow best in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 3 through 10, from International Falls, Minn., to southern Florida. They're deciduous, meaning they shed their leaves seasonally. In the fall the leaves turn bright red.
  
  'Fire Candle,' 'Flash Fire,' 'Gypsy Bloom,' 'Atropurpurem,' 'Happy,' 'Roseum Superbum,' 'Purple Spire,' 'Mr. Robert's' or 'Robert's' and 'Lady Sackville' are hybrids of the purple loosestrife. They have the parent flower's purple flowers, and are semi-deciduous, meaning they shed only some of their leaves seasonally. They grow from 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall, and 2 feet wide. They prefer partial sun, and grow in Zones 4 through 9, meaning from Minneapolis to St. Augustine, Fla. and do especially well in hot climates and wet soil. Purple loosestrife is considered an aquatic plant by many botanists.

Nature