Subject: Re: wildflower identification

From: [email-masked] (Bernie Guirey)
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 1995 17:45:11 -0400

In article <[email-masked]>,
[email-masked] (Eleanor "Sam" Saulys) wrote:

** There are 5 pale pink or lavendar petals on each flower with a deep purple 

Try <Hibiscus palustris>

Bernie<[email-masked]>
"ninety percent of everything is crap" 
                                         Sturgeons Law

---

From: [email-masked] (Eleanor "Sam" Saulys)
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 1995 14:18:29

There are 5 pale pink or lavendar petals on each flower with a deep purple 
center. The flower spike is mullen-like, and two or three flowers at a time 
are open on the spike. Plant itself is about 1.5 feet tall. Leaves are not 
paired, are thick and velvety in texture. They are maple leaf shaped, 
numerous and tend to. I cannot locate it in my Peterson's or in the Audubon 
field guide, probably because I can't decide on the color and am looking in 
the wrong place.

This plant grows abundantly by a road that circles a salt marsh here in 
Guilford, CT.

---

From: [email-masked] (Eleanor "Sam" Saulys)
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 1995 09:19:44

>Bernie<[email-masked]>

Close, no cigar. I'd guess it's the same family, and will require more than a 
simple field guide for identification.

The palustris in my book is a plant about 5 ft tall, with blossoms 4" across.

The one I'm trying to identify is around 1 to 1.5 feet tall, and the flowers 
are perhaps an inch across. The petals aren't separate, but joined at their 
bases. The most prominent feature is the deep purple stamen cluster. The 
velvet leaves are distinctive as well.  H. trionum sounded close, but was 
described as yellow rather than lavendar.  H. moscheutos also sounded good, 
but no height was given and it was in the same descriptive paragraph as 
palustris at 5'.

Swamp Mallows were abundant in the area, so these little guys weren't freaks 
due to soil conditions. Any other suggestions? Thanks!