Also 6 lose-, lous(e)strife, lostriffe. [f. LOOSE v. + STRIFE sb.; a mistransl. of late L. lysimachia, also -machion, a. Gr. λυσιμάχιον, f. the personal name Λυσίμαχος Lysimachus, an application of the adj. λυσίμαχος ‘loosing’ (i.e., ending) strife, f. λυσι-, combining stem of λύειν to loose + μάχη strife.
The form *λυσιμαχία (found only in Pliny’s Latin transliteration) would be correct Gr. for ‘the action of loosing strife.’ The misinterpretation of the word is ancient; Pliny, though stating that the plant was discovered by one Lysimachus, also says that oxen that are made to eat it are rendered more willing to draw together. Ancient writers mention two kinds of lysimachia, the purple and the yellow, the descriptions of which agree with the two plants referred to in 1 below. Modern botanists have appropriated Lysimachia as a generic name to the ‘yellow loosestrife.’]
1. The name for two common herbaceous plants resembling each other closely in growth (upright and tall) and habitat (margins of ditches and streams).
a. Lysimachia vulgaris (N.O. Primulaceæ), flowering in July, and bearing racemes of golden-yellow flowers; called spec. Golden or Yellow Loosestrife. Also a book-name for the genus.
1548. Turner, Names of Herbes (1881), 50. Some cal it Lycimachiam luteam … it may be called in englishe yealow Lousstryfe or herbe Wylowe. Ibid. (1562), Herbal, II. 44. It may be well called after the etimologi of the worde and also of ye vertue that it hath lous strife.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. li. 75. The yellow Lysimachus or golden Louse stryfe.
1640. Parkinson, Theatr. Bot., 543. Common yellow Loosestrife or Willow herbe.
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., IV. 236. Great Yellow Loosestrife…. Its large yellow panicle has leaves growing among the blossoms.
b. Lythrum Salicaria (N.O. Lythraceæ), blooming in summer months, with a beautiful showy spike of purplish-red flowers; called spec. Red, Purple, or Spiked Loosestrife. Also a book-name for the genus.
1548. Turner, Names of Herbes (1881), 50. Lycimachia purpurea … may be called in englishe red loosstryfe, or purple losestryfe.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 51. Other will haue it called Lostriffe or Herbe Willow. It beareth a red flower.
1633. Johnson, Gerarde’s Herbal, II. cxxix. 478. This lesser purple Loose-strife of Clusius.
1785. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xx. (1794), 278. Purple Loosestrife is a handsome plant.
1838. Mary Howitt, Pheasant, i. The loose-strife’s purple spear.
1866. M. Arnold, Thyrsis, xiii. When through the Wytham flats, Red loosestrife and blond meadow-sweet among,… We tracked the shy Thames shore.
1889. P. H. Emerson, Eng. Idyls, 83. Their sea-boots crushed the purple loosestrife into the ground.
2. Applied (as a book-name) with qualifications to plants of other genera (see quots.).
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 317. Podded Loose-strife, Epilobium. Ibid. Yellow Virginian Loose-strife, Gaura.
1787. trans. Linnæus’ Fam. Plants, I. 254. Gaura, Virginian Loosestrife.
1866. Treas. Bot., 695/1. False Loosestrife, Ludwigia. Swamp-L., Deocodon. West Indian L., Jussiæa suffruticosa.
