Fringed Meadow-beauty
Rhexia petiolata
Found in wet pine flatwoods and savannas, pocosin borders, and ditches. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Alabama. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 100%
- Height
- Up to about 20 inches
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Usually moist
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- May to October
Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves
Recorded in 19 Alabama counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Flat, sandy Coastal Plain pine woodlands, wetter than sandhills and denser than savannas.
Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
6CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AL
Genus host records with ranges including AL · Rhexia
- Chloridea subflexaSubflexus Straw, Groundcherry Sun Moth
- Chloridea virescensTobacco Budworm Moth
- Cymatophora approximariaLarge Scalloped-Wing, Giant Grey
- Eupithecia miserulataCommon Eupithacia, Common Pug
- Scopula limboundataLarge Lace-Border
- Xanthotype rufariaRufous Geometer
8BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Rhexia
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimNo records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Melastomataceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 7a–9b
- Soil pH
- Acidic
- Flower color
- Pink or purple
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “May to October” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Pink or purple” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Hardiness · “Zones 7a–9b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “Up to about 20 inches” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day); Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Moist; Occasionally wet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil pH · “Acidic” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Also known as
Fringed Meadow beauty
Conservation status
| Alabama rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5? |
| AL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Alabama Plant Atlas
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications