Purple loosestrife
Lythrum salicaria
FOUND by pparent2010-07-29
Grand Isle
ID Questioned
Quality checked by pparent
Peer reviewed by
Field Notes
It was another beautiful day in Grand Isle. I had been wanting to investigate the field where I had seen purple flowers for a few days. Stopping in with gps and camera, it wasn't long before I discovered there was something foreign in the beautiful field of wild flowers. Nearby in a planted wheat field, there were also purple flowers growing amongst the wheat.
Both the wheat field and the field of wildflowers seemed to have these purple flowers evenly distributed, almost like they were planted. My guess is that the farmer may have purchased contaminated seeds and spread the seeds out uniformly unintentionally. With 2.6 million seeds per plant, my guess is that if this is in fact Purple Loosestrife, it may be here in Northern Aroostook County to stay.
Supporting Evidence
Plants I observed have purple flowers with long flower spikes.
Leaves are opposite and blade shaped. The leaves are also covered with fine hairs.
The stems of the plant in question had the telltale square shape.
Species Observation: Species Looked For
Did you find it?:
I think I found it
Scientific name:
Lythrum salicariaCommon name:
Purple loosestrife
Sampling method:
Just looking around
Place Studied
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Latitude:
N 47.283750 °
Longitude:
W -68.166790 °
Observation Site Information
Name:
pparent's visit to Open Field in Grand Isle, Maine
Habitat:
Upland - Field
Trip Information
Name:
Open Field in Grand Isle, Maine
Trip date:
Thu, 2010-07-29 16:42
Town or city:
Grand Isle
Type of investigation:
Species Survey
Ecosystem:
Upland
Watershed:
Saint John
Sampling Method:
Just looking around
Nearest waterbody:
St. John River
Comments
Me too!
I also hope loosestrife isn't 'on the loose' in the county. I see it all over Maine, just came home from trip to Portland. Loosestrife in many a ditch! I agree this stuff has many characteristics listed on the vital signs card, but to me, loosestrife has a really distinctively bright color also. I sometimes wonder if maybe we have some plants in northern Aroostook and St John Valley that are less abundant in rest of Maine, after all, our climate is colder. I just went to the training this summer. I have been practicing identifying things as citizen before launching with kids as teacher. It's harder than I expected to ID things. I am looking forward to trying all this out with kids, hope you have a great school year!
Loosestrife
Hi 4Seasons,
I hope you are right that the plants in this field are not Loosestrife. This is a very big field. The pictures I submitted don't have good flower close ups. I was convinced based on the characteristics the VS id card pointed out, including opposite, hairy, blade shaped leaves, square, reddish stems and of course the purple flower spikes. The card also points out that there are not many species that look like Loosestrife. Apparently there is at least one, because you found one very similar plant to Loosestrife along the lake. I hope all the other purple plants I've seen along Long Lake are mint as well. Thanks and good luck with your school year.
Your pictures of the flowers
Your pictures of the flowers look like the same thing I found, and I am wondering what it is. At first I was startled and sure it was loosestrife, but I decided not loosestrife, because the flowers and leaves look more like some kind of mint.