Purple loosestrife
The flowers are designed so ingeniously that they avoid self-pollination.
Photo: Jens H. Petersen
Photo: Jens H. Petersen
Purple loosestrife has 3 different types of flowers: Flowers with a short style, others with a medium long style, and others again with a long style.
If you look into the flowers with a magnifying glass, you will discover that they have 12 stamens, placed in 2 circles: One circle with short stamens with yellow pollen, and one circle with long stamens with green pollen. The stigma is always at a different level than the anthers.
All flowers on a plant are identical, and the combination of different lengths of styles and stamens means that the flowers of the same plant do not easily pollinate themselves. When the flowers are pollinated by pollen from another plant, inbreeding is avoided and a greater genetic variation is achieved.
Facts:
- Greenhouse location: The exhibition “Fabulous Flowers”
- Danish name: Kattehale
- Latin name: Lythrum salicaria
- Family: The loosestrife family / Lythraceae
- Natural habitat: In ditches, wet meadows and marshes and along lakes and streams