1044 
MYRTUS? obscura. 
Small-flowered Myrtle. 
ll cm 
ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Nat. ord. Myrtacrx. 
MYRTUS.— Linn. Juss. Cal. 4-5-partitus. Petala 4-5. Stamina 
debilia, receptaculo angusto inserta. Ovarium bi-tri-loculare, polyspermum : 
ovulis placente centrali insertis. Stigma simplex. Pericarpium baccatum, 
polyspermum. Testa tenuis. Embryo arcuatus, teres, cotyledonibus radi- 
cula duplö brevioribus. Lindley, Collectanea Botanica, fol. 19. 
M. obscura ; pedunculis subsolitariis axillaribus brevissimis, foliis subsessilibus 
ovato-lanceolatis acuminatis obtusis, calycibus pilosis 4-fidis bibracteo- 
latis: bracteolis subulatis, petalis extüs pilosis, ramulis hirsutis. 
Frutex virgatus, ramis tenuibus, pilosis. Folia opposita, subsessilia, ovato- 
lanceolata, acuminata, obtusa. Flores axillares, solitarii geminive, pedicellis 
petiolis foliorum pauld longioribus, minimi, albi. Calyx 4-sepalus, sepalis 
utrinque villosis, ovato-acuminatis, patentibus. Petala 4, extús pilosiuscula, 
ovalia, subundulata, calyce longiora. Stamina indefinita, disco albo pulvinato 
piloso inordinatim inserta, inæquilonga, interioribus brevioribus. Filamenta 
alba, filiformia.  Anthere parve, rotunde, fusce. Ovarium minimum, 
biloculare, polyspermum, ovulis ut credo ascendentibus, sed indistinctè visis 
in flore unico. Stylus filiformis, apice arcuatus. Stigma simplex. Obs. 
Bracteole adsunt due subulate sub sepalis duobus oppositis. 
A native of Maranham, whence seeds were sent to the 
Horticultural Society, by Robert Hesketh, Esq., in 1824. 
Requires the protection of a stove, and flowers in November. 
Propagated with difficulty by cuttings. 
A very uncertain species of Myrtus, from which it 
differs in having the stamens inserted irregularly on the 
whole face of the discus, up to the very base of the style. 
But as its ovarium has not been yet satisfactorily examined, 
and as its fruit is wholly unknown, we place it provisionally 
in Myrtus, in the hope that the next volume of the learned 
M. Decandolle's Prodromus may contain further information 
ig Sec its structure, if the species should prove to 
be known to him. 
VOL. XIII. B 
