Family, Loosestrife. Color, magenta purple. Calyx, an elongated tube swollen or slightly spurred near the base, divided into 6 teeth above, with other smaller teeth between them. Petals, 6, of unequal size, inserted on the top of the calyx-tube. They quickly shrivel after the flower is plucked. Fruit, a capsule, thin, easily ruptured by the springing back of the seed-bearing part of the capsule. Stem and calyx, sticky, hairy, often reddish. Flowers, showy, in racemes or single.

Dry soil, in pastures or fields, common from New Hampshire to Georgia and westward. Found 3,300 feet high in West Virginia.