Lysimachia fraseri Duby. Fraser’s Loosestrife. Phen: Jun-Aug; Sep-Oct. Hab: Hardwood forests, forest edges and roadbanks, thin soils around rock outcrops, usually flowering only when exposed to extra sunlight by a tree-fall light gap or other canopy opening. Dist: W. NC and e. TN south to n. SC, n. GA, and AL; disjunct in s. IL and nw. TN (Benton, Humphreys, and Stewart couties).

Origin/Endemic status: Endemic

Other Comments: This rare species is limited in NC to the mountains south of the Asheville Basin, especially in the escarpment gorges of Macon and Jackson counties. Potentially the largest and coarsest of our Lysimachia (up to 2 meters tall), L. fraseri usually occurs as much smaller seedlings and non-flowering individuals. When a tree-fall light gap occurs, individuals flower and fruit. Even seedlings can be separated from the more common and widespread L. quadrifolia by the following characteristics (all best observed at 10×): leaves with a narrow, translucent red border, upper internodes of the stem glandular-puberulent, and backlit leaf without sinuous, translucent lineations (L. quadrifolia: leaves without red border, upper internodes sparsely pubescent with longer, nonglandular hairs, or rarely a few of the hairs with slightly bulbous tips, and backlit leaf with numerous sinuous, translucent lineations).

Synonymy: = FNA8, GW2, Il, K1, K3, K4, RAB, S, Tn, W; = n/a – C

Show in key(s)

Show parent genus

Wetland Indicator Status:

• Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FAC
• Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FAC

Heliophily: 6