Rhexia aristosa
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Photo courtesy Renee Brecht |
Britton & Brown |
| Botanical name: | Rhexia aristosa |
| Common name: | awned meadow beauty |
| Group: | dicot |
| Family: | Melastomataceae |
| Growth type: | forb/herb |
| Duration: | perennial |
| Origin: | native |
| Plant height: | to 1 meter |
| Foliage: | opposite, linear, lanceolate leaves; sparsely hirsute, 3-nerved, aristate (awned), leaves fairly adpressed |
| Flower: | large pink-purple flowers; sepals aristate |
| Flowering time: | July |
| Habitat: | wetland pine barrens vernal ponds |
| Range in New Jersey: | Atlantic county |
| Heritage ranking, if any: | S1, Endangered; LP; HL |
| Distribution: |  |
| Misc. | wetland obligate; range in New Jersey to Alabama. The family is primarily a tropical one, with the genus Rhexia found more northernly. Rhexia aristosa is at the end of its northern range in New Jersey. |