MELASTOMA FAMILY 
( Melastomacece) 
Meadow Beauty (Rliexia virginica) is a pretty little 
plant that always causes a thrill of admiration to pass 
through us as we come across it in grassy marshes 
where other flowers are usually few and far between. 
It has numerous buds, two or three of which, only, 
open at a time, lasting but for a short space, the petals 
then falling off and the calyx and long stamens becom¬ 
ing withered and brownish; these detract greatly from 
an otherwise very beautiful plant. 
Meadow Beauty or “ Deer-grass ” is a perennial, has a 
stout stem, quite branching and sharp-pointed, ovate, 
toothed, three-ribbed leaves, seated oppositely on the 
stem. The flowers grow on slender peduncles from the 
angles of the upper leaves; they have four large, round¬ 
ed, magenta petals, each with a short, sharp point at 
the tip. The eight stamens are long and slightly un¬ 
equal, the anthers being exceptionally large and bright 
golden-yellow. Meadow beauty is found blooming dur¬ 
ing July and August in sandy marshes and shores from 
Me. to Fla. and in the states bordering the Mississippi. 
11.8 
