Melastoma Family (Melastomaceæ)
Meadow Beauty (Rhexia virginica) is a pretty little plant that always causes a thrill of admiration to pass through us as we come across it in grassy marshes where other flowers are usually few and far between.
It has numerous buds, two or three of which, only, open at a time, lasting but for a short space, the petals then falling off and the calyx and long stamens becoming withered and brownish; these detract greatly from an otherwise very beautiful plant.
Meadow Beauty or “Deer-grass” is a perennial, has a stout stem, quite branching and sharp-pointed, ovate, toothed, three-ribbed leaves, seated oppositely on the stem. The flowers grow on slender peduncles from the angles of the upper leaves; they have four large, rounded, magenta petals, each with a short, sharp point at the tip. The eight stamens are long and slightly unequal, the anthers being exceptionally large and bright golden-yellow. Meadow Beauty is found blooming during July and August in sandy marshes and shores from Me. to Fla. and in the states bordering the Mississippi.