Rhexia mariana
 |
 |
Photo Courtesy Renee Brecht |
Britton & Brown |
| Botanical name: | Rhexia mariana |
| Common name: | Maryland meadow-beauty |
| Group: | dicot |
| Family: | Melastomataceae |
| Growth type: | forb/herb |
| Duration: | perennial |
| Origin: | native |
| Plant height: | 2.5' |
| Foliage: | stems often have four sides, flat, concave or convex and usually has glandular hairs.leaf arrangement is opposite. Leaves can reach 3 inches in length; fine sharp teeth, linear, lanceolate or oblong. |
| Flower: | 1 - 2" across; 4 petals, pink to lavender or occasionally white flowers. Fruit is a distinctive seed capsule shaped like a small jug with four points |
| Flowering time: | July - September |
| Habitat: | Open areas, moist at least in the spring. Often on disturbed sites. |
| Range in New Jersey: | Common in moist sandy ground throughout the Pine Barrens, Cape May peninsula, and western part of the Middle district, occasional on the coast. |
| 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; mariana, of Mary (Maryland?). |