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Lythrum flagellare Shuttlew. ex Chapm.
Florida Loosestrife
Lowland Loosestrife
Florida native
Endemic to Florida
Endangered Florida species
An occasional herb of wet prairies and other wet areas in the southwest and central peninsula from Collier County to the I-4 corridor.
The green, glabrous stems are typically 10-40cm (4 to 16 in.) long and weakly erect to decumbent. Leaves are opposite, entire, elliptic to slightly oblong, equal to or shorter than the stem spacing between the leaf nodes and sessile or with very short petiole. The tiny flowers are subsessile and appear in the leaf axils, with six pale-purple to purple obovate petals. There is a nectary encircling the base of the ovary. The floral tube has six pointed lobes.
The specific name flagellare is derived from the latin term for for whip-like, referring to the long narrow stems that often lay on the ground.
Lythrum flagellare is a member of the Lythraceae - Loosestrife family.
Other species of the Lythrum genus in the Wild Florida Photo database:
Lythrum alatum var. lanceolatum - WINGED LOOSESTRIFE
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
iNaturalist profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: Jun 09, 2023
