LYTHRACEAE LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY 
CLAMMY CUPHEA. BLUE WAXWEED 
Cuphea petiolata (L.) Koehne 
The Blue Waxweed grows in dry soil from New Hampshire to 
Ijlinois and Kansas, south to Georgia and Louisiana. It is rare 
in the northern part of this state but becomes more common 
farther south. It is a small annual which 
grows 6-20 inches erect, branches somewhat 
and is covered with very sticky hairs. 
The purple flowers are produced from 
July to October. The tubular calyx is 12- 
ribbed and has a very short spur on the 
upper side at the base. At the upper end it 
is slightly 1-sided and has 6 short teeth, 
usually with a little process in each sinus. 
The 6 purple ovate petals are unequal, as 
are the II or 12 stamens attached by very 
short filaments near the top of the calyx 
tube. The pistil consists of an ovary with a 
curved gland at its base next the spur of 
the calyx, a slender style and a 2-lobed 
stigma. The fruit is a few-seeded capsule, 
peculiar in that it splits along 1 side before 
the seeds are mature, and the placenta, or 
portion to which the flat seeds are attached, 
projects so that the seeds ripen outside the 
capsule. 
The Meadow Beauty, Rhexia 
virginica L., is the only well-known 
Illinois member of the Melastoma 
family, the Melastomaceae. This 
plant sends up its square stem 
12-18 inches from a slender tuber- 
bearing rootstock. The rose- 
purple flowers are in terminal 
cymes and are about 1% inches 
broad. The 4sepals are very gland- 
ular outside. The blooming season is July to October, and the flowers 
give way to a 4-celled capsule containing numerous bent or coiled 
seeds. Sandy swamps and shores from Maine to Florida harbor this 
plant, and it is also known from Ontario to Illinois, lowa and 
southwestward. 
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