Lythrum salicaria (Purple loosestrife)

c. 1890

Historical Brendel Plant Models, Botany Department, University of Otago

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These pretty flowers belong to the purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) plant. The flowers are reddish-purple with five or six petals and twelve stamens and there are three different types – short, medium and long, as depicted in this Brendel model. Introduced to New Zealand in the 1950s as an ornamental, these plants are now considered a threat to the wetland areas, which is their habitat, because they grow in clumps and crowd out other species.