I have been waiting and watching a group of plants grow in my yard since spring, wondering if they were friend or foe.  

Would the plants be destined for the compost pile or would they be allowed to stay in my botanically evolving yard? This was the growing question, as my property slowly and naturally revegetates following construction of the house.

I am sure I am not the only person to find myself in this quandary but last weekend I found my answer. I had the whorled at my feet! 

Delightful little yellow flowers with red centers emerged from the plant in a pattern similar to the leaves. On a closer look, I also couldn’t resist the purple leaves at the spire. Both leaves and flowers were “whorled,” an arrangement defined by the radiation of three or more leaves, sepals, or petals in a circle around the stem. In the case of my plant, the leaves and flowers shared this orientation. 

With the flowers and whorled characteristic, identification was easy. My newfound friend — so lovely it will remain rather than get weeded ­— is whorled loosestrife, also known as yellow loosestrife, crosswort, and, to scientists, Lysimachia quadrifolia.

Each name has an explanation and may even cause some confusion. The obvious mix-up is thinking that whorled loosestrife is related to the invasive and despised purple loosestrife. Big mistake: though they share a common name, they are not behaviorally similar or closely related. 

Loosestrife is just as it sounds, its name implying the loss of strife. This nomenclature is derived from the belief that this plant can calm domestic and wild animals.  An ancient king of Sicily, Lysimachus, from whom the scientific name is derived, is believed to have waved this plant in front of a bull that was attacking him. The lore shares that it calmed the beast, saving his life. Farmers reportedly attached the plant to their animal’s yokes or fed it to their oxen so that the paired animals would work together peacefully. 

Naturalist Pliny the Elder insisted that the scent of whorled loosestrife would keep snakes away, and herbalist Margaret Grieve noted that it was “obnoxious to gnats and flies” and suggested burning it in one’s home to keep the bugs away. Still, the plant is known to be valued by native bees so clearly it doesn’t hold all insects at bay.

Its beauty, though undeniable, isn’t this plant’s only quality. During the Revolutionary War, colonists even dried and steeped its leaves for tea to replace the “tea of commerce” that they were boycotting. We find this history in some of its common names — Liberty Tea and wild-tea — and while it served an important purpose, its flavor and strength were not exactly up to the quality of the imported variety.  

No matter whether it was good-tasting, whorled loosestrife was believed to be good medicine and able to combat kidney and bowel issues as well as menstrual complaints.

It’s a native plant on Martha’s Vineyard and it has captured my horticultural heart. While it may not bring whorled peace, it has shown itself to be a whorled apart from other botanical question marks emerging in my yard.

Suzan Bellincampi is director of the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown, and author of Martha’s Vineyard: A Field Guide to Island Nature and The Nature of Martha’s Vineyard.