6. Sabatia
Adans. (marsh pink)
(Wilbur, 1955)
Plants annual or
biennial herbs, glabrous. Stems erect, usually branched above; leaves opposite,
often also in a basal rosette. Inflorescences open panicles, sometimes reduced
to loose clusters. Flower with parts in multiples of (4)5. Corollas
saucer-shaped, the lobes longer than the tubes (sometimes shorter elsewhere).
Anthers spirally coiled after dehiscence. Ovaries sessile, the style slender,
elongate, the stigma deeply 2-lobed. Capsules ovoid to cylindrical. Seventeen
species, North America.