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Trailing Loosestrife

Steironema radicans

Found in moist forests, swamps, marshes, eastwards in mountain sinkhole ponds and interdunal ponds. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you

55
Strong

Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 59%

Light
Partial shade, Full shade, Full sun
Soil moisture
Moist to wet
Will it fit your yard?

At a glance

Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom

Height and bloom: NC species account not read yet.

Spread, life cycle and leaves: no source found yet.

This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.

Recorded in 4 Virginia counties.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 5

Moist forests

Shortia beneath rhododendrons in mountain woodland
Regional / representative. Shown: Mountains of North and South Carolina; exact site not identified, a neighboring state.Shortia beneath rhododendrons in mountain woodland, Marian Ellis Rowan, 1901. Public domain. Source record.

Swamps

View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina
Named place / source context. Shown: Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, as titled by Museum of Fine Arts Boston; nineteenth-century artistic interpretation, a neighboring state.View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, Regis Francois Gignoux, 1850. Public domain. Source record.

Ponds, lakes and their shores

Yellow butterwort beside a moss-hung coastal pond
Regional / representative. Shown: Southern coastal pond margins, Florida and Louisiana to North Carolina; state not identified, a neighboring state.Yellow butterwort beside a moss-hung coastal pond, Marian Ellis Rowan, 1901. Public domain. Source record.

Freshwater marshes

Open, herb-covered wetlands with fresh, non-tidal water.

Sinkhole ponds

Ponds and wet depressions in limestone sinkholes of the interior valleys and plateaus (karst), separate from the Coastal Plain's limesink ponds.

All habitats

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

6CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA

Genus host records with ranges including VA · Lysimachia

  • Catocala consorsThe Consort
  • Herpetogramma pertextalisBold-Feathered Grass Moth
  • Melanchra adjunctaHitched Arches
  • Nola cilicoidesBlurry-Patched Nola
  • Papaipema lysimachiaeLoosestrife Borer
  • Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
10BeesSoutheastern regional records

Southeastern regional records · Lysimachia

Individual names are not available yet.

Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
4Specialist beesPollen specialists

Pollen specialists · Lysimachia

  • Macropis ciliata
  • Macropis nuda
  • Macropis patellata
  • Macropis steironematis
Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family
Myrsinaceae

Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.

Growing sources and scope

Conservation status

Virginia rankSH
Global rankG4G5
VA statusNot verified
Federal statusNot verified

Conservation source Global and federal source

In your garden

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How to check your spot

Sources