''Rhexia virginica'', the handsome Harry or Virginia meadow-beauty, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Melastomataceae Melastomataceae is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants found mostly in the tropics (two-thirds of the genera are from the New World tropics) comprising c. 175 genera and c. 5115 known species. Melastomes are annual or perennial herbs, sh ...

. It is native to much of eastern North America, and is often found in moist, often acidic soils in open areas. This species is a perennial herb that is easily identified by its distinctly angled stems. It produces purple-pink flowers in the summer that use

buzz pollination Buzz pollination or sonication is a technique used by some bees, such as solitary bees to release pollen which is more or less firmly held by the anthers. The anthers of buzz-pollinated plant species are typically tubular, with an opening at onl ...

for reproduction.http://www.amjbot.org/content/86/4/502.full The pollination ecology of buzz-pollinated ''Rhexia virginica'' (Melastomataceae) Am. J. Bot. April 1999 vol. 86 no. 4 502-511

Gallery

Rhexia virginica (9551639177).jpg Rhexia virginica (9551643151).jpg Virginia Meadow Beauty (Rhexia virginica) (42921392652).jpg Rhexia virginica seeds, by Omar Hoftun.jpg, Seeds Rhexia virginica NA-dist-map.png, Distribution map

References

virginica Flora of North America Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Melastomataceae-stub