Nearctica - Eastern Wildflowers - Melastomaceae - Virginia Meadow Beauty (Rhexia virginica)

Virginia Meadow Beauty

(Rhexia virginica)

Color Photograph: NRCS Plants Database, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

Rhexia mariana

Virginia Meadow Beauty is easily confused with Maryland Meadow Beauty. The flowers of Maryland Meadow Beauty are lighter in color and the stem is round, without ridges. The leaves are narrower and the base tapers and is not sessile to the stem.

Virginia Meadow Beauty (Rhexia virginica)

Identification: Flowers deep pink to rose. Flower with 4 petals, petals irregular in shape, sometimes nearly quadrate. Anthers large, elongate, yellow, and curved. Stem with 4 ridges, hairy. Leaves hairy, broad, with strongly marked veins, and with a finely toothed outer margin. Base of leaf broad, sessile with the stem. Plant 1 to 1.5 feet in height.

Distribution: Throughout the eastern United States.

Habitat: Virginia Meadow Beauty is found on wet, sandy soils, particularly in sandy swamps.

Flowering period: July to September.

Virginia Meadow Beauty (Rhexia virginica)

Similar Species:

Maryland Meadow Beauty (Rhexia mariana)

Similar Species