PLATE LXXII
MEADOW-BEAUTY.—R. Virginica.
Of the plant in the late year, Thoreau writes: “The scarlet leaves and stem of the rhexia, sometime out of flower, make almost as bright a patch in the meadows now as the flowers did. Its seed-vessels are perfect little cream-pitchers of graceful form.”
Clammy Cuphea. Wax-weed.
Cuphea viscosissima. Loosestrife Family.
Stem.—Sticky, hairy, branching. Leaves.—Usually opposite, rounded, lance-shaped. Flowers.—Deep purplish-pink, solitary or in racemes. Calyx.—Tubular, slightly spurred at the base on the upper side, six-toothed at the apex, usually with a slight projection between each tooth. Corolla.—Small, of six unequal petals. Stamens.—Eleven or twelve, of unequal sizes, in two sets. Pistil.—One, with a two-lobed stigma.
In the dry fields and along the roadsides of late summer this plant is found in blossom. Its rather wrinkled purplish-pink petals and unequal stamens suggest the flowers of the spiked loosestrife, L. Salicaria, to which it is closely related.
Sea Pink.
Sabbatia stellaris. Gentian Family.
Stem.—Slender, loosely branched. Leaves.—Opposite, oblong to lance-shaped, the upper narrowly linear. Flowers.—Large, deep pure pink to almost white. Calyx.—Usually five-parted, the lobes long and slender. Corolla.—Usually five-parted, conspicuously marked with red and yellow in the centre. Stamens.—Usually five. Pistil.—One, with two-cleft style.
The advancing year has few fairer sights to show us than a salt meadow flushed with these radiant blossoms. They are so abundant, so deep-hued, so delicate! One feels tempted to lie down among the pale grasses and rosy stars in the sunshine of the August morning and drink his fill of their beauty. How often nature tries to the utmost our capacity of appreciation and leaves us still insatiate! At such times it is almost a relief to turn from the mere contemplation of beauty to the study of its structure; it rests our overstrained faculties.
PLATE LXXIII
SEA PINK.—S. stellaris.