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| Yellow Loosestrife along the retreat house road |
This is Fringed Loosestrife. It is sometimes called Yellow Loosestrife or Willow~Herb because it has willow-like leaves. Loosestrife grows in damp wooded areas and thickets throughout much of the country, blooming from June to August. Loosestrife's delicate flowers face downward. I wonder if that's a design feature to shed rain?
Loosestrife's botanical name is Lysimachia ciliata which may have meant loosen (to end, to drop, to let go of) strife. So the meaning of the plant's name is Loosen the Strife: set us free from all the fighting and argument, the hatred and enmity, the contention and resentment.
Maybe we should make Yellow Loosestrife the National Flower and put it on each state flag. Big bouquets of it in every church, synagogue and mosque. A sprig on every politician's podium - on every cleric's pulpit. Fields of it along the highway median. Gardens of Loosestrife around all the government buildings! Vases of it in every home, office and news-entertainment studio.
Maybe we should make Yellow Loosestrife the National Flower and put it on each state flag. Big bouquets of it in every church, synagogue and mosque. A sprig on every politician's podium - on every cleric's pulpit. Fields of it along the highway median. Gardens of Loosestrife around all the government buildings! Vases of it in every home, office and news-entertainment studio.
