Lythrum alatum
{{Short description|Plant species in the loosestrife family}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Lythrum alatum.jpg
| image_alt =
| image_caption =
| status = {{TNCStatus}}
| status_system = TNC
| status_ref = {{Cite NatureServe |date=31 January 2025 |id=2.157008 |title=Lythrum alatum |access-date=21 February 2025}}
| genus = Lythrum
| species = alatum
| authority = Pursh
| subdivision_ranks = Varieties
| subdivision = {{Species list
| L. alatum var. alatum |
| L. alatum var. lanceolatum |
}}
| synonyms_ref = {{cite POWO |id=553646-1 |title=Lythrum alatum Pursh |access-date=21 February 2025}}
| synonyms = {{Collapsible list | {{Species list
| Pythagorea alata | (Pursh) Raf.
| Salicaria alata | (Pursh) Lunell
}}
}}
}}
Lythrum alatum, commonly known as winged loosestrife, winged lythrum or (in Britain and Ireland) angled purple-loosestrife,{{BSBI 2007|accessdate=2014-10-17}} is a species of flowering plant belonging to the family Lythraceae. It is endemic to wetland areas in central and eastern United States and Ontario.{{cite web|url=http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=LYAL4|title=Plants Profile for Lythrum alatum (winged lythrum)|website=plants.usda.gov}}
Description
Winged loosestrife is an upright, branching herbaceous plant growing to about one metre tall. The stems are woody in the lower parts of the plant, square in cross section with slightly winged angles. The leaves are mostly opposite, stalk-less, broadly oblong and tapering towards the tip. They have smooth un-toothed edges. The flowers are borne singly or in pairs in the axils of the much reduced upper leaves. The calyx forms a tube about 0.6 millimetres long and has six pointed teeth. The six rose-pink petals have a magenta central vein and are about 5 millimetres long and 2 millimetres wide. There are six stamens with pink filaments and purple anthers. The stigma is white and the style green.{{cite web|url=http://www.missouriplants.com/Pinkopp/Lythrum_alatum_page.html|title=Lythrum alatum page|website=www.missouriplants.com}} The ovary is superior and the fruit is an elongated capsule with numerous tiny seeds.{{cite web|url=http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/floramw/species/lythalat.htm|title=Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629023136/http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/floramw/species/lythalat.htm|archivedate=2011-06-29}}
Habitat
Winged loosestrife is found growing in wet meadows and fens, pond and lake margins, beside streams and by railroads.
Conservation status in the United States
It is listed as endangered in Connecticut,[http://www.ct.gov/deep/lib/deep/wildlife/pdf_files/nongame/ets15.pdf "Connecticut's Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Species 2015"]. State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Bureau of Natural Resources. Retrieved 31 January 2018. (Note: This list is newer than the one used by plants.usda.gov and is more up-to-date.) Maryland, and Pennsylvania.{{cite web |url=https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=lyal4 |title= Plants Profile for Lythrum alatum (winged lythrum ) |website= plants.usda.gov |access-date= 31 January 2018 |author=}} It was thought to be extinct in Vermont until it was found in the town of Monkton in 2017.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/flowering-plant-thought-to-be-extinct-seen-in-vermont/2017/07/27/6bc97b94-72dc-11e7-8c17-533c52b2f014_story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727181116/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/flowering-plant-thought-to-be-extinct-seen-in-vermont/2017/07/27/6bc97b94-72dc-11e7-8c17-533c52b2f014_story.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-07-27|title=Flowering plant thought to be extinct seen in Vermont|newspaper=Washington Post}}
As a noxious weed in the United States
Native American ethnobotany
{{see also|Native American ethnobotany|Cherokee ethnobotany#Lythraceae}}
The Cherokee take an infusion for Lythrum alatum var. lanceolatum for the kidneys.Hamel, Paul B. and Mary U. Chiltoskey, 1975, Cherokee Plants and Their Uses -- A 400 Year History, Sylva, N.C. Herald Publishing Co., page 43