(( 

 <( 



a 

 n 



The flowers varj- on the same individual from witli four 

 to five, and even six petals, and from ^th eight to ten sta- 

 mens. It was observed by Osbeck and Loureiro growing 

 wild about Canton, and is mentioned by the first as an 

 article of the Chinese pharmacy. 



On the limits, structure, and generic division of the Me- 

 lastamacece, the order where our plant belongs, Mr. Brown 

 offers the three following remarks. 



« 1st. The Memecylon, as M. du Petit Thouars had 

 " already suggested, and Petaloma of Swartz both belong 

 " to this order, and connect it with Mi/rtacece, from which 

 they are distin2:uished only by the absence of the pellucid 

 glands of tlie leaves and of other parts, existing in all the 

 genera really belonging to that extensive family." 



" 2dly. There are very few Melastomaceae in wliich the 

 germen does not in some degree cohere with the tube of 

 the calyx; Mbriana properly so called, being, perhaps, 

 the only exception.** 



<^ And in the greater number of instances where, though 

 " the germen is coherent, the fruit is distinct, it becomes 

 " so from the laceration of the connecting processes already 

 « desGYihed-r (seevol.6,fol.SQ^(overleaf) of thisReghter). 



" 3dly. That the generic divisions of the whole order re- 

 " main to be established. On examination, I believe, it will 

 " be found that the original species of the Linnean genera, 

 « Melastoma and Rhexia, possess generic characters suf- 

 " ficiently distinguishing from the greater part of the plants 

 " that have been since added to them by various authors. 

 " In consequence of these additions, however, their bota- 

 " nical history has been so far neglected, that probably no 

 ^' genuine species of Melastoma, and certainly none of 

 " Rhexia, has yet been published in M. Bonpland's splendid 

 « and valuable* monogi-aphs of these two genera." Brawn 

 hot. of Congo. 17. 



Tlie corrugation of the lower part of the cells of the ma- 

 ture anther, seems the effect of a kind of peristaltic contrac- 

 tion for the expulsion of the grumously fluid pollen, by the 

 orifice of the pipe at the end of the anther. 



Drawn in April last, in the hothouse at Messrs. Colvill's, 

 in the King's Road, Chelsea. 



