FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Small plant with hairy stems and leaves; red center stripe on petals of small flowers.
Synonym(s): Parsonsia balsamona
Description: Small to medium herb, 30 to 60 cm, with few upward branches and wide, elliptic leaves.
Leaves: Opposite, wide, elliptic with very short petioles. Hairy stems.
Flowers/Fruit: Small flowers with a green or reddish tube and six fragile, purple petals with darker center stripes. Fruit capsule with yellowish-brown seeds. Flowering and fruiting June to September.
Habit and Range: Marshes, ditches, wet meadows, shallow water of floodplain forests, swamps, and depressions throughout the Coastal Plain.
Taxonomic Note: Has been called Cuphea carthagensis, a spelling error
