LYSIMACHIA, or LOOSESTRIFE, a genus of plants of the natural order pi-bazar-tem, or primrose family, said to be named in honor of king Lysimachus (perhaps front 2;66zs, a release from, and strife). Calyx, 5-parted (rarely 6 to 7); corolla, wheel-shaped, 5-parted (or 6 to 7), sometimes of as many separate petals; stamens of like number; pod globose, 5 to 10 valved. They are leafy stemmed perennials, generally with yellow flowers, axillary, or in a terminal raceme. Species grow in nearly all parts of the world, several in the United States, some being cultivated in gardens, as the MaNEYWORT (L. nuusmularia), which was introduced from Europe. In this the leaves are roundish, small, with short petioles; peduncles axillary, one-flowered; ovAe, acute sepals. It is a beautiful plant for hanging-baskets and for covering rocks, and also for carpeting beneath shrubs, forming, as it does, a thick mat. In some places it has escaped from the gardens into damp ground. It blooms from July to September. There are eight species enumerated by Gray as occurring in the United States: 1. L. thysiflora, or tufted loosestrife; stem from 1 to 2 ft. high, lower leaves reduced to scales, the rest lanceolate, the axils of one or two pairs of the middle ones bearing a short-peduncled spike-like cluster of yellow flowers; found in cold, wet swamps from Pennsylvania northwards; blooms in June and July. 2. L. atricta: leaves opposite or nearly alternate, lanceolate, acute at each end; flowers in a long raceme from 5 to 12 in., and leafy at the
base; in variety producta, leafy for half the length; in low grounds, blooming from June to August. 3. L. gitadrifolia: leaves whorled, iD fours or fives, ovate-lanceolate; flowers on long capillary peduncles from the axils of the leaves; a common plaht in the middle states, growing in moist or sandy soil, blooming iri.June. 4. L. cillata: stem from 2 to 3 ft. high, leaves lanceolate-ovate, tapering to an acute point, on long and fringed leaf-stalks; common in low grounds and thickets; blooms in July. 5. L. radi cans: stem slender, soon reclined, and often taking root from the joints; leaves ovate lanceolate, borne on slender leaf-stalks; grows on swampy river banks in West Virginia and southward. 6. L. lanceolata: stem erect, 10 to 20 in. high ; leaves lanceolate, oblong, and also linear, narrowing into the short petiole; growing on low grounds, westward and southward; blooming from June to August. 7. L. longifolia: stem erect, 4 angled, from 1 to 3 ft. high, often branched below; stem leaves se.isile, linear, 2 to 4 in. long, smooth and shining, margins often revolute, veins obscure; corolla about I of an inch in diameter, lobes pointed; grows in moist soil in western New York, Pennsylvania, to Wis conein and Illinois; blooming from July to September. 8. L. nummularia, noticed above.