West Indies meadow beauty

Rhexia floridana Nash; R. mariana Linnaeus var. portoricensis Cogniaux

Caudices not developed; roots often long and rhizomelike, tuberiferous. Stems unbranched or few-branched proximally, 30–60 cm, faces strongly unequal, 1 pair of opposite faces rounded to convex, the other narrower, flat or concave, internodes and nodes sparsely villous, hairs gland-tipped. Leaves sessile; blade linear or linear-elliptic to oblong or narrowly spatulate, 2–4 cm × 1–4(–8) mm, apparently 1-veined, margins serrate, surfaces sparsely glandular-hirsute. Inflorescences diffuse, not obscured by bracts. Flowers: hypanthium ovoid to subglobose, about as long as the constricted neck, (10–)14–15(–16) mm, sparsely hirsute, hairs gland-tipped; calyx lobes narrowly triangular to oblong-triangular, apices acute; petals spreading, bright to pale lavender-rose, 1.5–2 cm; anthers curved, 7–10 mm. Seeds 0.7 mm, surfaces concentrically, evenly ridged, especially along crest. 2n = 22, 44, 66.

Flowering Jun–Aug(–Sep). Pine savannas and flatwoods, pine-cypress flats, lime sinkponds, longleaf pine hills, hillside bogs, seeps, sandy lakeshores and pond edges, swamp margins, salt marsh and canal banks, ditches, roadsides, sandy peat; 0–50 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., La., Miss., N.C., S.C.; West Indies (Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico).