Most Viewed
Wild Lupine Old Maid's Bonnets Wild Pea Sun Dial
Dutchman's Pipe Pipevine
Yellow And Orange Flowers
Pitcherplant Sidesaddle Flower Huntsman's Cup Indian Dipper
Pointed Blueeyed Grass Eyebright Blue Star
Moonshine Cottonweed Nonesopretty
Plant Garden Stonecrop Witches' Money
Magenta To Pink Flowers
From Blue To Purple Flowers
Wild Blue Phlox
Least Viewed
Erica Cerinthoides Honeywort-flower'd Heath
Struthiola Erecta Smooth Struthiola
Michauxia Campanuloides Rough-leav'd Michauxia
Ipom&oeliga Coccinea Scarlet Ipom&oeliga
Disandra Prostrata Trailing Disandra
Buchnera Viscosa Clammy Buchnera
Lychnis Coronata Chinese Lychnis
Magenta To Pink Flowers
Yellow And Orange Flowers
Scabiosa Atropurpurea Sweet Scabious
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MEADOWBEAUTY DEER GRASS
(Rhexia Virginica) Meadow-beauty family
Flowers - Purplish pink, 1 to 1 1/2 in. across, pedicelled,
clustered at top of stem. Calyx 4-lobed, tubular or urn-shaped,
narrowest at neck; 4 rounded, spreading petals, joined for half
their length; 8 equal, prominent stamens in 2 rows; pistil. Stem:
1 to 1 1/2 ft. high, square, more or less hairy, erect, sometimes
branching at top. Leaves: Opposite, ascending, seated on stem,
oval, acute at tip, mostly 5-nerved, the margins saw-edged.
Preferred Habitat - Sandy swamps or near water.
Flowering Season - July-September.
Distribution - United States, chiefly east of Mississippi.
Suggesting a brilliant magenta evening primrose in form, the
meadow-beauty is likewise a rather niggardly bloomer, only a few
flowers in each cluster opening at once; but where masses adorn
our marshes, we cannot wonder so effective a plant is exported to
European peat gardens. Its lovely sister, the MARYLAND
MEADOW-BEAUTY (R. Mariana), a smaller, less brilliant flower,
found no farther north than the swamps and pine barrens of New
Jersey, also goes abroad to be admired; yet neither is of any
value for cutting, for the delicate petals quickly discolor and
drop off when handled. Blossoms so attractively colored naturally
have many winged visitors to transfer their pollen. All too soon
after fertilization the now useless petals fall, leaving the
pretty urn-shaped calyx, with the large yellow protruding
stamens, far more conspicuous than some flowers. "Its
seed-vessels are perfect little cream pitchers of graceful form,"
said Thoreau. Within the smooth capsule the minute seeds are
coiled like snail-shells.
Next: GREAT OR SPIKED WILLOWHERB FIREWEED Previous: BLUE WAXWEED CLAMMY CUPHEA TARWEED
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