Large Marsh Pink; Sabbatia (Sabatia dodecandra ) 
is the largest flowered and the most beautiful species 
of this genus; in fact, it is one of the most delicately 
beautiful flowers of our wild flowers. 
During July and August, along the Atlantic coast, we 
sometimes find brackish ponds, the shores and muddy 
flats of which have a ruddy glow owing to the number 
of these large attractive blossoms that appear. The 
stems are slender and wiry, and but little branched; 
they attain heights of 1 to 2 feet, each branch bearing 
usually but a single blossom. 
The flowers measure from two to two and one-half 
inches across; the nine to twelve petals are a deli¬ 
cate rose color and each has, at its base, a yellow- 
green spot margined by a three-pointed ochre or crim¬ 
son border. The corolla has a regular, symmetrical 
wheel-like appearance, the petals making the spokes 
and the yellow center forming the hub. The calyx is 
composed of linear sepals to the same number as the 
petals. The stamens are quite widely separated from 
the slender style so that self-fertilization is hardly to 
be expected. 
140 
