Swamp candles

Appearance

''Lysimachia terrestris'' is a herbaceous plant with opposite, simple leaves, and erect stems. The flowers are produced in a raceme, 10–30 cm long, at the top of the plant. The flowers are star-shaped with five yellow petals, and appear in mid-summer. Each petal has two red dots at its base forming a circle of ten red dots in the center of the flower.

Naming

Lysimachia terrestris (L.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.
Lysimachia stricta Aiton
Viscum terrestre L.

Distribution

''Lysimachia terrestris'' grows in swamps and at the edges of ponds and lakes in the Eastern United States and in Eastern Canada. It is also found in the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and in British Columbia. It is listed as endangered in Tennessee and Kentucky.

A major pest is ''Monostegia abdominalis'', a sawfly larva that can completely skeleonize the leaves.

Behavior

The flowers of Lysimachia spp. attract Melittid bees, which collect floral oil and pollen for their larvae. In Illinois, Macropis steironematis appears to be the most common Melittid bee. Other bees, particularly small Halictid bees, also visit the flowers occasionally to collect pollen.

Habitat

''Lysimachia terrestris'' grows in swamps and at the edges of ponds and lakes in the Eastern United States and in Eastern Canada. It is also found in the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and in British Columbia. It is listed as endangered in Tennessee and Kentucky.

A major pest is ''Monostegia abdominalis'', a sawfly larva that can completely skeleonize the leaves.

Reproduction

Seeds, rhizomes, bulblets. Sometimes, instead of flowers, this plant produces aerial bulblets in the axils of the upper leaves during the summer. These bulblets are up to 12 mm long, ovoid in shape, and reddish brown; they eventually detach from the mother plant and fall to the ground. The flowers bloom during early to mid-summer, lasting about 2-4 weeks for a colony of plants. Afterwards, the flowers are replaced by ovoid seed capsules that are 3-4 mm. long. These capsules are few-seeded. Individual seeds are quite small (about 1–1.5 mm. in length). The root system is rhizomatous. Clonal plants are produced from either the rhizomes or bulblets.

Predators

Information about floral-faunal relationships about Swamp Candles is rather limited, however, some insects are known to feed on this plant. These insects include the larvae of a sawfly (Monostegia abdominalis), a weevil (Acallodes lysimachiae), the Poplar Vagabond Gall Aphid (Mordwilkoja vagabunda), and the polyphagous Foxglove Aphid (Aulacorthum solani).