Swamp candles
Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. March 2011.
Scientific name: Lysimachia terrestris (L.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.
Common name(s): swamp candles, yellow loosestrife, swamp yellow-loosestrife, earth loosestrife
Links: USDA PLANTS Profile, NPIN Profile, Go Botany
Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)
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- in wet depression in blueberry field
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- pre-flower, early June
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- flowers terminal
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- at bottom of slope in blueberry field
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- leaves in pairs, early July
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- in flower, early July
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- flower detail
Description:
– perennial
-reaches 16″-32″ in height
-smooth branched stems
-leaves are
- narrow
- lanceolate
- opposite
-fruits are elongated bulblets
– generally blooms in ME in June, July
Habitat:
-wetlands
-bogs
-river shores
Natural History:
-named after Greek king Lysimachus or m Greek lysis for “a release from” and mache for “fighting or strife”
Source(s):
Heinrich, B. 1976. Flowering phenologies: Bog, woodland, and disturbed habitats. Ecology. 57(5):890-899.
Wisconsin state Herbarium. “ Lysimachia Terrestris.” Online Virtual Flora of Wisconsin , Department of Botany, wisflora.herbarium.wisc.edu/taxa/index.php?taxon=4164.