LYTHRACEAE 



LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY 



CLAMMY CUPHEA. BLUE WAXWEED 



Cuphea petiolaia (L.) Koehne 



The Blue Waxweed grows in dry soil from New Hampshire to 

 Illinois 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 i-sided and has 6 short teeth, 

 usually with a little process in each sinus. 

 The 6 purple ovate petals are unequal, as 

 are the 11 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 i 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 

 I 2-1 8 inches from a slender tuber- 

 bearing rootstock. The rose- 

 purple flowers are in terminal a. '"^JUMi^ (^ ft,.; 

 cymes and are about i^ inches 

 broad. The 4 sepals 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, Iowa and 

 southwestward. 



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