Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is sometimes known as Willow Weed, Black Blood, Long Purples, Rainbow weed, Red Sally, Rose Loosestrife, Rosy Strip, Sage Willow, Soldiers and Spiked Loosestrife.
Purple Loosestrife is a reasonably tall plant that can reach up to 1.5m. It has bright pink flowers which are usually around 2cm wide and appear on the tall dense spike for a long period thoughout the summer monmall vivid purplish-pink flowers 2cm wide in dense terminal spikes over a long period in summer.
The stem of this plant is square shaped with “willow” like leaves. The flowers have around 6 petals, arranged onto a dense spike which can reach a height of between 10 – 30cm. The flowers are particularly good for attracting a wide range of insects from bees to butterflies, and is also a good food source for long tongued insects like moths, Red Tailed Bumblebees and Elephand Hawk Moths.
This plant prefers to grow in permanently wet grounds with non acidic, fertile soil, typicaly around slow flowing rivers, lakes and tall herb fens.
Height: 100 – 150cm
Flowering Time: June to August
Preferred Conditions: This wildflower likes to grow in wet and occasionally flooded land and prefers non acidic fertile soil.
