Yellow loosestrife or Dotted loosestrife: how to tell them apart?
Yellow loosestrife and Dotted loosestrife look alike and are often mixed up. Here is how to tell them apart, feature by feature, with their photos and the details to look for.
⚡ The quick answer
Yellow loosestrife
Lysimachia vulgaris
Dotted loosestrife
Lysimachia punctata
Yellow loosestrife bears its yellow flowers in a single dense panicle at the top of the stem, with sepals that have a reddish margin; dotted loosestrife bears its flowers in staggered clusters in the leaf axils along the whole stem, with entirely green sepals. Both have a similar upright habit and flower at the same time.
🍃 Leaves
Ovate-lanceolate, opposite or whorled, bright green
Ovate-lanceolate, opposite or in whorls of 3-4, hairy, bright green
🌸 Flowers
Small bright yellow flowers in large terminal panicles
Large bright yellow flowers grouped in several in the axils of the upper leaves, forming tiered whorls along the whole length of the stem
🍎 Fruits
Small globose capsules
Small globose capsules, barely visible
🪵 Bark
Upright clump with creeping rhizome
Upright clump with creeping rhizome, vigorous and quickly invasive
📏 Size
60 cm to 1.2 m tall
70 cm to 1 m tall
🗺️ Habitat
Banks, damp gardens, moist rich soils
Grown in beds and damp gardens, sometimes naturalised on woodland edges and in moist ground in France
⚠️ Toxicity
No known toxicity.
No known toxicity.
🔎 And from the Dotted loosestrife side
Yellow loosestrife bears its yellow flowers in a single dense panicle at the top of the stem, with sepals that have a reddish margin; dotted loosestrife bears its flowers in staggered clusters in the leaf axils along the whole stem, with entirely green sepals. Both have a similar upright habit and flower at the same time.
🌿 Go further
Want to practise spotting these details on real photos? Floraneo offers profiles and quizzes for dozens of look-alike species.
ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.