Shrub · Lythraceae
Swamp loosestrife
Decodon verticillatus
Swamp loosestrife is recorded as native to 31 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 452 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Swamp loosestrife at a glance
- Native in
- 452 counties, across 31 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5a PLANTS minimum temperature −23°F
- Mature height
- 8 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 5a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −23°F; zone 5a winters bottom out at −20°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Swamp loosestrife is recorded as native to 31 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 452 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 452 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 7 counties
- Arkansas 10 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 24 counties
- Georgia 14 counties
- Illinois 15 counties
- Indiana 30 counties
- Kentucky 10 counties
- Louisiana 9 counties
- Maine 12 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 45 counties
- Minnesota 6 counties
- Mississippi 4 counties
- Missouri 1 county
- New Hampshire 7 counties
- New Jersey 18 counties
- New York 43 counties
- North Carolina 26 counties
- Ohio 34 counties
- Pennsylvania 20 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Carolina 13 counties
- Tennessee 8 counties
- Texas 8 counties
- Vermont 4 counties
- Virginia 34 counties
- West Virginia 3 counties
- Wisconsin 27 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Subshrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 8 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Colonizing
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Summer and Fall
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- None
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- High
- Precipitation range
- 30 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.9 to 8.6
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 10 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −23°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 5a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 145
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Red
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Mid Summer
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Lythraceae
- PLANTS symbol
- DEVE
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Decodon verticillatus (PLANTS symbol DEVE).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources