Steironema lanceolatum

Lance Leaf Loosestrife is a native perennial in the Primrose family (PRIMULACEAE). It can be found throughout Alabama. Lance Leaf Loosestrife grows in wet ditches, along streams, in swamps, in depressions in hardwood forests, and in wet prairies. It is a perennial from a thin rhizome. Stems are erect, glabrous, and from 6-18 inches in height. The stems are simple or slightly branched near the apex. The leaves are opposite, elliptic to linear-lanceolate in outline, glabrous, and entire. Leaves are often folded along the midrib. The basal leaves are wider and more rounded than those higher on the stems. The lower leaves often have short petioles while the upper leaves are often sessile. Solitary nodding flowers are produced on long pedicels from the axils of the leaves. Flowers have 5 sepals and 5 petals. The petals are yellow, sometimes with red at the base. The fruit is a capsule. Lance Leaf Loosestrife produces no nectar but does produce a flora oil. It is pollinated by the short-tongued Melittid Bee (Macropsis steironematis), a specialist species that only visits Lysimachia/Steironema flowers. This bee gathers both the oil and pollen, and in doing so pollinates the flower. Macropsis steironematis is in turn parasitized by the Cuckoo Bee (Epeoloides pilosula). This species is a cleptoparasite—it lays its eggs on the pollen masses made by Macropsis steironematis to feed its larvae. Lance Leaf Loosestrife is occasionally available from wildflower nurseries. It prefers full to partial sun and a moist, loamy soil. You might want to plant the Lance Leaf Loosestrife in its pot to limit its spread by rhizomes.--A. Diamond