This lifeform is found widely in Eurasia. This lifeform is found north of the Mason Dixon line in North America. The pink color will help identify this lifeform. This lifeform is very common in suitable environments.

Spiked or Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is a very common plant in North America. It is usually found along streams, in swamps, and in places where cattails grow. It is a large plant, and in mid to late August it can be seen in huge masses of purple in damp open areas. This Eurasian plant threatens wetland and lake regions in the eastern and midwestern United States as it is taking over some of these areas and pushing out various native species of plants. The identifying characteristics are hairy leaves with no stems that are wide at the base, tapering spikes of flowers with usually six petals, and a height of three to five feet.

Lythrum genus (loosestrife) is found widely in both the Old and New World.   There are about 40 species in this genus.  These are herbs or shrubs with 4-angled stems, entire leaves, and 4-6 petals.  There were 14 species  (counting L. lanceolata as a full species)  growing in greater North America as of 1996.

Loosestrife Family (Lythraceae) reaches its greatest development in the American tropics. There are over 500 species of trees,  bushes, and herbs in this family. These species are arranged in 26 different genera. There are 38 species arranged in 11 genera now growing in greater North America.

Myrtiflorae Order is an assemblage of over twenty different  families.

Dicots (Dicotyledoneae Class) are the predominant group of vascular plants on earth. With the exception of the grasses (Monocots) and the Conifers (Gymnosperms), most of the larger plants that one encounters are  Dicots. Dicots are characterized by having a seed with two outer shell coverings. Some of the more primitive Dicots are the typical hardwood trees (oaks, birches, hickories, etc). The more advanced Dicots include many of the Composite Family flowers like the  Dandelion, Aster, Thistles, and Sunflowers. Although many Monocots reach a very high degree of specialization, most botanists feel that the Dicots represent the most advanced group of plants.

Seed plants (Phylum Embryophyta) are generally grouped into one large phylum containing three major classes: the Gymnosperms, the Monocots, and the Dicots. (Some scientists separate the Gymnosperms into a separate phylum and refer to the remaining plants as flowering plants or Angiospermae.)

For North American counts of the number of species in each genus and family, the primary reference has been John T. Kartesz, author of A Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland (1994). The geographical scope of his lists include, as part of greater North America, Hawaii, Alaska, Greenland, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Kartesz lists 21,757 species of vascular plants comprising the ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants as being found in greater North America (including Alaska, Hawaii, Greenland, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands).

There are estimates within the scientific world that about half of the listed North American seed plants were originally native with the balance being comprised of Eurasian and tropical plants that have become established.

Plant kingdom contains a large variety of different organisms including mosses, ferns, and seed plants. Most plants manufacture their energy from sunlight and water. Identification of many species is difficult in that most individual plants have characteristics that have variables based on soil moisture, soil chemistry, and sunlight.

Because of the difficulty in learning and identifying different plant groups, specialists have emerged that study only a limited group of plants. These specialists revise the taxonomy and give us detailed descriptions and ranges of the various species.  Their results are published in technical journals and written with highly specialized words that apply to a specific group.

On the other hand, there are the nature publishers. These people and companies undertake the challenging task of trying to provide easy to use pictures and descriptions to identify those species.