Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 265 



LARGE MARSH PINK; SABBATIA (Sabatia dod- 

 ecandra) is the largest flowered and the most beauti- 

 ful species of this genus; in fact, it is one of the most 

 delicately beautiful flowers of our wild flowers. 



During July and August, along the Atlantic coast, 

 we sometimes find brackish ponds, the shores and 

 muddy flats of which have a ruddy glow owing to 

 the number of these large attractive blossoms that 

 appear. The stems are slender and wiry, and but 

 little branched; they attain heights of 1 to 2 feet, 

 each branch bearing usually but a single blossom. 



The flowers measure from two to two and one-half 

 inches across; the nine to twelve petals are a deli- 

 cate rose color and each has, at its base, a yellow- 

 green spot margined by a three-pointed ochre or crim- 

 son border. The corolla has a regular, symmetrical 

 wheel-like apearance, the petals making the spokes 

 and the yellow center forming the hub. The calyx is 

 composed of linear sepals to the same number as the 

 petals. The stamens are quite widely separated from 

 the slender style so that self-fertilization is hardly 

 to be expected. Of course such beautiful flowers 

 have hosts of insect admirers, most beneficial of 

 which are some of the bee-like flies that are usual- 

 ly to be found about them. 



SLENDER MARSH PINK (S. gracilis) is very sim- 

 ilar to stellaris, but the stem is very slender and 

 the leaves are linear. The flowers are about the 

 same size, with the petals averaging a trifle more 

 narrow. The linear sepals are fully as long as the 

 petals, with which they alternate. This species is 

 found along the coast from Conn, to Fla. 



LANCE-LEAVED SABBATIA (S. lanceolata) is a 

 narrow-leaved variety found in pine barrens from 

 N. J. to Fla. The flowers terminating the slender 

 branches are white, star-like and about one inch 

 across. 



