MEADGW-BEAUTY FAMILY. Melastomaceas* 



MEADOW-BEAUTY FAMILY. Melastomacece. 



Herbs (in our range) with opposite leaves of 3-7 veins, 

 and perfect, regular flowers having four petals, and as 

 many calyx-lobes ; there are either four or eight promi- 

 nent stamens ; in our species the anthers open by a pore 

 in the apex. The stigma being far in advance of the an- 

 thers, the flower is cross-fertilized, and mostly through 

 the agency of butterflies and bees. The seed are in a 

 four-celled capsule. 



A stout-stemmed perennial, sometimes 

 beauty or branched (the stem rather square), with 



Deer=grass. smooth, light green, three-ribbed leaves, 

 RhexiaVirginica sharp-toothed, ovate pointed or narrower, 

 Magenta and stem i ess> The flowers with four 



broad magenta or purple-magenta petals ; 

 the golden anthers large. There are eight stamens 

 slightly varying in length ; the pistil reaching beyond 

 them secures the cross-fertilization of the flower ; the 

 honeybee and Colias philodice (the omnipresent yellow 

 butterfly) are the only visitors I have happened to ob- 

 serve. 10-18 inches high. In sandy marshes, from Me, 

 south, and local west to 111. and Mo. 



A similar species, with square stem and 

 Rhexia aristosa it i- mi i 



narrow, small, linear leaves. Ihe large 



rounded petals of the magenta flowers are furnished with 

 a tiny awnlike point. In sandy swamps, and the pine 

 barrens of New Jersey, south to S. Car., local. 



A slender, round-stemmed species, rather 

 Rhexia Mariana , , ... , , ,. 



hairy, and with short-stemmed linear- 

 oblong, toothed leaves, three-ribbed, and acute. The 

 flowers are light magenta and similar to those of Rhexia 

 Virginica. In sandy swamps, and in the pine barrens of 

 New Jersey, south and southwest to Tex. The name, 

 from the Greek pij&S, means a breaker crevice, alluding 

 to the situation of the plant. 



A smooth species with a square stem and 

 Rhexia dliosa Qvate almost gtemless leaves with bristly 

 fringed edges. Flowers like those of R. virginica but. 

 purple, the anthers oblong and straight, not spurred. 

 1-2 feet high. Md. south. 



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