 |
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| Photo
by Renee Brecht |
Britton and Brown. See
credits below. |
| Botanical name: |
Rhexia mariana
L |
| Common
name: |
Virginia meadow-beauty
|
| Synonomy: |
Rhexia
stricta Pursh
Rhexia virginica L. var.
purshii (Spreng.) C.W. James
Rhexia virginica L. var.
septemnervia (Walt.) Pursh
|
| Group: |
Dicot
|
| Family: |
Melastomataceae |
| Growth
Type: |
Forb/herb
|
| Duration: |
Perennial
|
| Plant
height: |
1-2'
|
| Foliage: |
The
stem is squared and slightly winged at the edges. The stem becomes
fleshy and fibrous toward the base as an adaptation for absorbing
oxygen from the water. Opposite leaves, with three prominent veins and
small teeth along the margins. Leaves and stem are smooth but dotted
with glandular hairs, which give the plant a bristly appearance.
|
| Flower
color: |
magenta
|
| Flower
size: |
1 to 1-1/2 inches across
with 4 petals |
| Flowering/fruiting time |
Flowers
early July to mid-September. Fruits early August into autumn... Fruit
is a distinctive seed capsule shaped
like a small jug with four points |
| Habitat: |
wet sandy soil |
| Range in
New Jersey: |
Common in sandy swamps throughout the
Coastal plain region and
northward to Closter, Bergen County, and Stockton, Hunterdon County.
Especially abundant in the Pine Barrens. (Stone 1911) |
| Heritage ranking if any: |
n/a
|
| Distribution |
 |
| Misc.: |
USDA
lists as an obligate wetland species, i.e., Occurs almost always
(estimated probability 99%) under natural conditions in wetlands.
Rhexia,
From
the Greek rhexio, (rupture); referring to the belief the plant had
curative benefits for ruptures; virginica,
of or from Virginia.
Often occurs with other outer coastal plain species such as Rhynchospora capitellata, Twig-rush
(Cladium mariscoides),
Yellow-eyed-grass (Xyris difformis),
Marsh St. John's-wort (Triadenum
virginicum), Dichanthelium
spretum, Golden Hedge Hyssop (Gratiola
aurea), and horned bladderwort (Utricularia
cornuta).
Plants are cross-fertilized by nectar feeding insects such as honeybees
and the common yellow sulfur butterfly (Colias philodice)
Stone notes "throughout the latter part of the summer its gorgeous
flowers are conspicuous, sometimes in scattered clumps or individual
plants, and again massed in large patches, so that the whole surface of
the bog seems crimson. There is a certain amount of variation in color,
some flowers being very deep magenta, but they never approach the pale
pink of R. mariana.
Pollination
Ecology of Rhexia virginica
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