Thanks Chuck, I will consult the expert in this household about whether
I have seen the plant at all ...
Chris
On 30 Aug 2004, at 14:05, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
> Richard's photo of flowering marsh weeds
> <http://people.simons-rock.edu/rlovison/image22.jpg> which he calls
> Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium) is probably actually Purple
> Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria).
>
> It's a common mis-identification since Fireweed is a similar looking
> invasive native species in the US while Purple Loosestrife is an even
> more invasive non-native species from Europe and Asia. I'm sure it
> must
> be in the UK so perhaps Chris will recognize it now but perhaps it
> doesn't grow so densely there. Fireweed would prefer to grow in a
> meadow while Purple Loosestrife prefers to have its feet at least damp
> if not wet.
>
> It's a real scourge here since there are no native biological controls
> and the stuff (while pretty) grows so dense that it squeezes out the
> native plants and their dependent wildlife. My property encompasses an
> acre of eastern Massachusetts wetland and it's everywhere. It also
> includes a very shallow man-made settlement pond spec'd by the local
> conservation commission. They couldn't possibly have designed a better
> environment for Purple Loosestrife than that pond... so much for
> government!
>
> The US Fish & Wildlife Service is now conducting experiments at various
> US refuges aimed at finding imported biological controls... that don't
> also eat everything else.
>
> For much more than you're likely to want to know about Purple
> Loosestrife see:
> <http://www.fws.gov/r5mnwr/mnwrls.html> and
> <http://www.agron.iastate.edu/~weeds/weedbiollibrary/
> 517%20student%20pages/2000/purple.htm>
>
> Chuck Norcutt
>
>
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<|_:-)_|>
C M I Barker
Cambridgeshire, Great Britain.
+44 (0)7092 251126
ftog at threeshoes.co.uk
http://www.threeshoes.co.uk
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