Decodon verticillatus – Swamp Loosestrife – Lythraceae (The Loosestrife Family)

Description Decodon verticillatus is a rare and unusual North American native wetland plant known as swamp loosestrife or water willow. It is a multi-stemmed, woody-based, sub-shrub that can grow 6-8 feet tall with elegant, slender, recurved to arching unbranched, wand-like stems that can look quite ornamental at the water’s edge. Showy, bell-shaped, five-petaled, deep pink to rose-purple flowers bloom in dense clusters in the upper leaf axils in summer. The foliage takes on fall colour of red, orange and yellow. It often grows in damp or wet ground near shorelines and even in up to two feet of water and can spread rapidly in good conditions by underground rhizomes. It can be grown in evenly moist garden soils where it will spread more slowly. Use it as a waterside plant in large landscapes, as hedging in wet soils, or as a single specimen. The flowers attract bees and butterflies. Photo credit: Wikipedia.