146 A GUIDE TO THE WILD FLOWERS 



433. Meadow beauty. Rhexia virginica. Similar to No. 432, 

 but with broader leaves, and much more comm.on. In wet 

 open places. Ontario and Maine to Florida, and westward. 

 August. Fig. 433. A plant closely related to Nos. 432 and 

 433 is R. aristosa, which differs from both in having each 

 petal tipped with a single bristle. It is found in pine barren 

 bogs from N. J. to Georgia. 



434. WILLOW-HERBS. EPILOBIUM. 



Low, or someftimes stout and even partly woody herbs, 

 with opposite or alternate leaves, or both, but mostly op- 

 posite. Flowers solitary or in clusters. Sepals united to form 

 a slender tube. Petals 4, notched or cleft at the tip, or some- 

 times merely rounded. Fruit a long slender pod filled with 

 copiously down-tipped seeds that float on the breeze. (Ona- 

 graceae.) For related plants see Nos. 379, 380, and 445. 

 Of the 10 species known in the area the four following may 

 be distinguished thus: 

 Leaves sharply toothed 



Flowers rose-purple, about i in. across 



Great Willow-herb no. 435 



Flowers pinkish-white, about J4 in- across 



Willow-herb no. 436 



Leaves without teeth 

 Leaf-veins distinct ; leaf margins flat 



