LYTHRIIIVI Nvo• t., from G k. ;ttapoc, ly ron, gore; so called from the crimson or pur ple color of the flowers). A geniis of h•rhaceons plants, called also loosestrite in common with 14,illivaChia (q.v.), although belonging to an other order, Primulacea-. The herb is slender, with opposite or scattered, mostly sessile leaves, and large purple dowers. The Lythruni Nola •uria, or spiked loosest rife, is a European peren nial, hut is found in wet meadows. particularly in New England and eastern New York. where it is frequently cultivated; lea ves•neeolate, heart-shaped at the base, threes; stamens 12—twice the number of petals— long 111141 6 short. It is a line, tall• rather downy Plant, with large flowers, from crimson to purple. 11y growing in dry places the plant In!. collies Inure downy and hoary, and considerably thwarted. It a mucilaginous, astringent taste. The blackish-brown, branching, and fibrous root is also astringent, inu•ilage and tannin be ing its principal constituents. It is mentioned in
sonic pharmacop(cias. The principal species indi genous to the United States are Lythrum llyN sopifolia, a low annual, from I; to 10 111ellc-1 high. the petals pale purple, found in marshes on the coast. of New England and New Jersey. Lythrum Oat um, a tall and wand-like perennial, with leaves from oblong-ovate to lanceolate, and deep purple flowers, grows from Alichigan and Wis consin southward. Bythrum lineare. a species, from 3 to 4 feet tall, bushy at the top, with short, linear, chiefly opposite 1 ish petals, grows in brackish marshes in New Jersey and southward. Under cultivation these plants improve greatly, and a number of kinds are offered by florists. They are of easy culti vation, growing readily and flowering freely in moist soil.