MELASTOMACEJE MEADOW-BEAUTY FAMILY 



Rhexia virginica, L. 



Magenta Meadow Beauty. 



Deer grass. 

 July-September 



Rhexia: name used by Pliny for some unknown plant. 

 Virginica: Latin for Virginian. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: boggy land. 



THE PLANT: erect, six inches to more than a foot high; stem 

 simple or branched above, rather stout, square, prominent- 

 ly angled, with short, soft hairs. 



THE LEAVES: opposite; ovate; with a few hairs on both 

 surfaces; acute or acutish at the apex; rounded at the base; 

 mostly five-nerved; serrulate. 



THE FLOWERS: large and showy, somewhat bell-shaped; 

 in cymes, petals four, overlapping in bud; sepals acute; 

 stamens eight, yellow, united in a column. 



THE FRUIT: a capsule. 



A low plant of the damp, slightly brackish soil, which 

 is conspicuous when in bloom. The showy magenta 

 flowers have broad petals, prominent yellow stamens with 

 large golden anthers and a long, white pistil. The flowers 

 fade quickly or the petals fall so that it is not a satisfac- 

 tory plant for home decoration. 



The seed-vessels Thoreau called cream-pitchers. 



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