A family of beautifully flowered herbs having smooth stems and simple, opposite and sessile leaves. They also agree in having regular, perfect flowers.

Rose Pink (Sabatia Angularis)

Rose Pink (Sabatia Angularis) is the most widely distributed of the Sabbatias. Whereas the rest of the tribe are confined in a range very close to the seacoast, this species is commonly found in rich ground in all the states from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic. It is found most abundantly in meadows or along ditches, but also grows in comparatively dry land too. Its period of bloom is during July and August.

Rose Pink is a handsome plant when in bloom; the stem is square and grooved, branches considerably and rises 2 to 3 feet high. The ovate-lanceolate leaves are stemless and seated oppositely on the stem. The branches usually divide near their ends, each division bearing a beautiful flower about an inch across. At the center of the five-parted, pink corolla is a yellow-green star, a feature that is quite characteristic with members of this family. The calyx is composed of five very narrow sepals.

The roots have very bitter properties that are of use medicinally; because of the diligence with which it is hunted for the sake of these roots, it is yearly growing less abundant.

A. Rose Pink.

Sabatia angularis.

B. Sea Pink.

Sabatia stellaris.

Sea Pink (Sabatia Stellaris)

Sea Pink (Sabatia Stellaris) is a beautiful, slender species common on salt marshes from Me. to Fla. The pink flowers grow singly at the ends of the slender branches. Like that of the last species, the center is yellow-green but is often edged with a deep crimson which adds greatly to the attractiveness of the blossom. The oval leaves are very small, almost bract-like, at the ends of the branches,

Sabbatia. Sabatia dodecandra.

Large Marsh Pink; Sabbatia (Sabatia Dod-Ecandra)

Large Marsh Pink; Sabbatia (Sabatia Dod-Ecandra) is the largest flowered and the most beautiful species of this genus; in fact, it is one of the most delicately beautiful flowers of our wild flowers.

During July and August, along the Atlantic coast, we sometimes find brackish ponds, the shores and muddy flats of which have a ruddy glow owing to the number of these large attractive blossoms that appear. The stems are slender and wiry, and but little branched; they attain heights of 1 to 2 feet, each branch bearing usually but a single blossom.

The flowers measure from two to two and one-half inches across; the nine to twelve petals are a delicate rose color and each has, at its base, a yellow-green spot margined by a three-pointed ochre or crimson border. The corolla has a regular, symmetrical wheel-like apearance, the petals making the spokes and the yellow center forming the hub. The calyx is composed of linear sepals to the same number as the petals. The stamens are quite widely separated from the slender style so that self-fertilization is hardly to be expected. Of course such beautiful flowers have hosts of insect admirers, most beneficial of which are some of the bee-like flies that are usually to be found about them.