Rhexia mariana

Most common species of Rhexia in Louisiana. All species of meadowbeauty have opposite, mainly three-nerved leaves and showy four-petaled flowers with large yellow stamens. Other species include R. lutea which has yellow flowers; Rhexia petiolata which is slender with hairless stems; Rhexia alifanus, a large pink flowered species with untoothed leaf margins, thick spongy roots, and flowers that are darker pink than R. mariana; Rhexia virginica, which has sharply toothed leaf margins on elliptic to ovate leaves and is also quite large.

Seeds average approximately 9,000,000/lb.

An important nectar source for pollinators in coastal prairie as it is one of the few summer bloomers. Deer are said to eat it in the spring and summer.

A common species in prairie and savannas, it is also sometimes found in marshes, meadows, and ditches throughout Louisiana and east Texas.

Moist to wet, sandy or sandy-clay, roadbanks, swampy forest clearings, sandy prairie, moist open places, marshes, meadows, ditches, and savannas.