Swollen meadow beauty

Rhexia mariana Linnaeus var. ventricosa (Fernald & Griscom) Kral & Bostick

Caudices not developed; roots often long and rhizomelike, lignescent, non-tuberiferous. Stems unbranched or few- to several-branched distally, 25–80 cm, faces subequal, angles sharp, without wings or very narrowly winged, internodes and nodes hirsute-villous, hairs gland-tipped. Leaves sessile, subsessile, or petiole 0.5–1.5 mm; blade broadly to narrowly elliptic to ovate-elliptic or lanceolate, 2–6 cm × 10–20 mm, margins serrate to serrulate, surfaces loosely strigose to strigose-hirsute or villous. Inflorescences diffuse, not obscured by bracts. Flowers: hypanthium ovoid to subglobose, about as long as the constricted neck, 6–10 mm, hirsute-villous, glabrous, or glabrate, hairs gland-tipped; calyx lobes narrowly triangular, apices acute to acuminate, narrowed to linear-oblong extensions; petals spreading, bright lavender-rose, 1.2–1.5 cm; anthers curved, 5–8 mm. Seeds 0.5–0.7 mm, surfaces with papillae in concentric rows. 2n = 44.

Flowering Jun–Sep. Pine flatwoods and savannas, clearings in cypress-hardwood swamps, ditches, wet roadsides; 0–50 m; Del., Md., N.J., N.C., S.C., Va.