Yellow Loosestrife / Lysimachia Vulgaris

This is another of the flowers that you might not expect to be very historical, but, Pliny said that the plant's name comes from King Lysimachos, who had been a body guard to Alexander the Great. After the death of Alexander, Lysimachos became the ruler of what is now known as Turkey. Lysimachos was an herbalist, and is said to be the one who discovered the benefits of the Loosestife. This was another flower that was hard to pin down to a correct name. A friend of mine and I  have been going back and forth about the name .... she said that her guides lead her to the name Garden Loosestrife ... but when I look it up in my guides the flower pattern is not the same. Garden Loosestrife in the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers shows Garden Loosestrife as a plant that alternates whorled yellow flowers with whorled leaves down the length of the stem. These flowers are clumped at the top of the stem. Finally I found a site that spoke of the flowers using their Scientific names with a description of them that matched the two that I was struggling with. At that sight this flower was named Yellow Loosestrife (Lysimachia Vulgaris) and the more whorled version was named Garden Loosestrife (Lysimachia Punctata). I often read that common names are a problem in the world of botany and it is why the botanists stay with the Latin names. This is my first time experiencing this ... even after getting the correct scientific name, if I type it in on the Internet to see what comes up, I get both names and images of both Yellow Loosestife and Garden Loosestrife...... but at least now I feel I have found its correct name. It is an invasive plant in Massachusetts.

Where I found it : Near a river