Rhexia virginica (Pale meadow beauty)

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Rhexia virginica L.

Pale meadow beauty, Virginia meadow beauty, handsome harry, wing-stem meadow-pitchers

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Rosidae	Roses, legumes, proteas, dogwoods, hydrangeas, mistletoes, euphorbias, grapes, many more
Order	Myrtales	Includes myrtles, leadwoods, loosestrifes, pomegranates, evening primroses, many others
Family	Melastomataceae	Asiatic shrubs with leathery leaves and large purple flowers followed by edible fleshy black berries
Genus	Rhexia	From the Greek rhexio, “rupture;” referring to the belief the plant had curative benefits for ruptures
Species	virginica	From Virginia

About plant names...

Many members of this genus are tropical, but this is a North American native. Virgiinia meadow beauties prefer sun to moderate shade, acid soil, and moist to wet conditions. Henry David Thoreau once compared these fruits to little cream pitchers, hence the term “meadow-pitchers.”

Plants: 8-40" (20-101 cm), bristly, usually unbranched except for a few flower-bearing stems near the top. Taller plants sometimes flop over along the ground. The central stem is light- to purplish-green, sharply 4-angled, with narrow wings.

Leaves: Opposite, up to 2½" (6.3 cm) × ¾" (1.9 cm), sharply toothed, somewhat hairy, oval or narrowly oval, and sessile (attached to the stem). Leaves have 3-5 prominent nerves.

Flowers: Stems, which are usually hairy, are topped by short cymes of attractive flowers. Flowers are 1-1½" (2.5-3.8 cm) around, bright pink, 4-petaled, with 8 bright yellow stamens tipped by yellow or yellow-orange sickle-shaped anthers. Flowers appear July-August.

Fruits: Urn-shaped capsules, ⅛-¼" (5.5-6.5 mm) long, with many seeds <¹/₃₂" (1 mm) in size. Fruits appear July-September.

Online References:

Missouriplants.com (Great photos)

Discover Life (Great photos)

The Michigan Natural Features Inventory

The New England Wildflower Society’s GoBotany site

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Www.cumauriceriver.org

References:

Clemants, Steven; Gracie, Carol, Wildflowers in the Field and Forest, Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 122