MELASTOMACEiE. XXXIL Ch^tooastra. XXXIIL Arthrostemma. 



755 



Rh^xia canescens, Bonpl. rhex. t, 6. 



violaceous. 



Shrub 3 feet. 



Flowers dark purple or 

 Calyx red. 



Canescent Chaetogastra. 



23 C. sarment6sa (D. C. h c.) shrubby ; branches climbing 

 almost terete, villous ; leaves on short petioles, oval, somewhat 

 cordate, serrulated, 7-nerved, villous ; flowers terminal, approx- 

 imating by threes, on very short pedicels ; calyx villous, with 



the tube about equal in length to the lobes; connectives of 

 anthers 



Native of Peru, in hot places near Cuenca and St. 



^ ' ' ' " Flowers large, 



Shrub cl. 



long, furnished with 2 tubercles each at the base. 



Jj .^ S. 



Felipe. Rhexia sarmentosa, Bonpl. rhex. t. 10. 

 of a reddish violaceous colour. 

 Sarmentose Chsetogastra. 



24 C. murica'ta (D. C. 1, c.) shrubby ; branches, peduncles, 

 and calyxes pilose ; leaves petiolate, broadly ovate, somewhat 

 cordate, hardly acute, 5.nerved, beset with bristles above, which 

 are blistered at the base, but clothed with silky tomentum be- 

 neath; flowers terminal, solitary ; anthers each furnished with a 

 slender appendage, which is bidentate at the base. Tj . S. Na- 

 tive of cold places on Mount Purase, near Popayan. Rhexia Echinated Chaetogastra. Sh. 2 to 3 feet, 

 muricata, Bonpl. rhex. t. 1. Habit almost of Cistus salvifblius. 

 Flowers large, purple, or violaceous. 



Muricated Chaetogastra. Shrub 4 to 5 feet. 



25 C. strigosa (D. C. L c.) suffruticose ; branches tetra- 

 gonal, beset with adpressed bristles ; leaves on short petioles, 

 ovate, acute, hardly 3-nerved, quite entire, with a few thick, 

 scattered, adpressed bristles on the unoer surface, and 



entire, rather hairy ; flowers nodding, bibracteate; calyx cam- 

 panulate, rather villous ; connectives of anthers drawn out into 

 2 bristles, which are capitate at the apex. fj • ^» Native of 

 Peru, in cold places on Mount Purase, and near Loxa. Rhexia 

 stricta, Bonpl. rhex. t. 8. but not of Pursh. Shrub much 

 branched, straight. Flowers purple or violaceous. Calyxes 

 and bracteas purplish. Petals ciliated. Ovarium bristly. 

 There is a variety of this species having 4-petalled flowers. 



Straight Chaetogastra. Sh. 4 to 5 feet* 



29 C. echina'ta (D. C. prod. 8. p. 135.) branches terete, 

 and are, as well as the peduncles, petioles, and calyxes beset 

 with thick adpressed stiff' pili ; leaves ovate, 5-nerved, woolly 

 beneath, echinated above, quite entire ; flowers inclinate ; tube 

 of calyx ovate, about equal in length to the lobes, which are lan- 

 ceolate ; connectives of anthers thick at the base. Pj . S. Na- 

 tive of Peru, on the tops of hills. Rhexia echinata, Ruiz et Pav. 

 fl. per. 8, p. 85. t. 319. f. 6. Flowers large, spreading, of a 

 violaceous purple-colour. Capsule 5-celIed, bristly at the apex. 

 Seeds cochlea te. 



adpressed onsties on tne upper 

 scabrous on the nerves beneath ; cymes terminal, peduncu- 

 late, few-flowered ; tube of calyx hispid, with 5 short, acute, 

 lobes. - - -- - -_-- 



T?.S. 



30 C. ce'rnua (D. C. 1. c.) branches tetragonal, rough at the 

 angles ; leaves on short petioles, oval, rather crenulated, 5- 

 nerved, often hispid along the nerves ; flowers pedicellate, 

 usually 3 together, terminal, drooping ; tube of calyx cam- 

 panulate, one-half shorter than the lobes, which are linear- 

 lanceolate. T2 . S. Native of Peru, on the Andes, on 

 Mount Purase near Popayan. Rhexia cernua, Bonpl, rhex. t. 

 13. Osbeckia cernua, Spreng. syst. 2. p. 312. Petals oval, 

 violaceous. Calyx violaceous. Capsule 5-celled. 



Droo2)ing'Qowered Chaetogastra. Sh. 5 to 6 feet. 



Native of Guadaloupe, on the top of the Sul- 

 phur Mountain, among sphagnum ; and on the mountains of 

 Wontserrat and Martinique. Melastoma strigosa, Lin. fil. 

 , p. 236. Mel. ciliata, Desr. in Lam. diet. 4. p. 49. 



Osbeckia ornata, Swartz, fl. ind. occ. p. 647. Rhexia incon- , .,i-i i -v^r t ,., 



stans, Vahl, elc. 1. p. 37. Rhexia strigosa, Rich. act. soc. hist, ovate pilose tube, girded at the base by 6 free bracteas, which 



nat. 



suppL 



Sect. III. Bractea'ria (from hractea, a bractea or prop ; in 

 reference to the flowers, which are furnished with 6 bracteas 

 each at the base). D. C. prod. 3. p. 135. Calyx with an ob- 



par. 1791. p. 108. Rhexia ornata, Rich, in Bonpl. rhex. 

 t' 26. R. chamaecistus, Sieb. pi. exsic. mart. no. 297. Flowers 

 pale purple, bractless- Anthers yellow, obtuse, almost without 



are arranged in 3 series ; lobes 5, obtuse. Anthers hardly bi- 



auriculate at the base. 



31 C. confe'rta (D. C. 1. c.) suffruticose, much branched; 



auricles at 'the base.' Capsule ovate, 5-celled, bristly at the branchlets hairy ; leaves on short petioles, crowded, small, oval, 



— ^ obtuse, 3-nerved, beset with adpressed bristles ; flowers termi- 



Sh. 6 to 8 feet. 



apex. There are varieties of this plant having flowers either 

 ^th 4 or 5 petals, smaller, and larger. 

 Strigose Chaetogastra. 



26 C. LEPiDOTA (D. C. 1. c.) shrubby ; branchlets bluntly 

 tetragonal, and are, as well as the petioles, leaves, peduncles, and 

 calyxes scabrous from imbricated scaly bristles ; leaves petio- 

 late, oblong-lanceolate, 5-nerved, hardly serrulated ; cymes pe- 

 dunculate, terminal ; flowers few, almost sessile, crowded ; calyx 

 J^ith an obovate tube, and obtuse lobes ; connectives of anthers 

 hardly evident, and almost without any auricles at the base. Tj . 

 S» Native of Peru, in cold places near Jaen de Bracamoros. 

 RWxia lepidota, Bonpl. rhex. t. 15. Flowers purple or viola- 

 <^eous. Capsule globose, bristly, and denticulated at the apex. 



Lepidoited Chaetogastra. Sh. 6 feet. 



27 C. cardina'lis (D. C. 1. c.) branchlets somewhat tetra- 

 gonal, very hairy, and very leafy ; leaves almost sessile, orbicularly 

 feniform, quite entire, 5 -7-nerved, strigose above, but clothed 

 '^ith silky hairs beneath; flowers terminal, crowded, almost 

 «^sile ; calyx hispid, with a campanulate tube, rather 

 longer than the lobes, which are bluntish ; connectives of an- 

 f*iers hardly produced, emarginate. Tj . S. Native of Brazil, 

 ^n hot places near Gran-Para. Rhexia cardin^lis, Bonpl. rhex. 



^* 87. Mp]a«tn»r»n nnr/^in^lis. SnrpnP". SVSt. 2. D. 298» 



Melastoma cardinilis, Spreng. syst 

 coloured inside. 



Flowers of a rose purple-colour 

 Cardinal Ch^togastra. Sh. 2 to 4 feet, 

 88 C. STRicTA (D. C. 1. c.) branches terete, velvety from short 



nal, solitary, drooping ; bracteas 6, involving the flower ; calyx 

 pilose, with 5 bluntish teeth. Tj. S. Native of Peru, in cold 

 places near Loxa. Rhexia conferta, Bonpl. rhex. t. 20. Petals 

 roundish, violaceous, almost conniving into a tube. Capsule 

 globose, denticulated from 5 bristle-like teeth. 



Crowded Chaetogastra. Sh. 3 feet. 



Cult^ For culture and propagation see Lasidndra, p. 752. 



XXXIIL ARTHROSTE'xMMA (from ap^poy, arthran, a 

 joint, and arefifiay for arrffioyf stemon, a stamen ; in reference to 

 their stamens or connectives being jointed). Pav. ex D. Don, 

 mem. soc. wern. 4. p. .98. D. C. prod. 3. p. 135. — Mel^nium, 



Rich. herb. 



Lin. syst. Octdndria^ Monogynia. Tube of calyx turbinate 

 or campanulate, usually clothed with bristles, pili, or scales ; 

 lobes 4, lanceolate, permanent, without any appendages be- 

 tween them. Petals 4. Stamens 8 ; filaments quite glabrous. 

 Anthers oblong, opening by one pore at the apex, furnished with 

 longish connectives, which are biauriculated at the base. Ova- 

 rium bristly at the apex. Capsule 4-celled. Seeds cochleate. 



Herbs or subshrubs, very variable in habit, all natives of 



South America. The genus is composed, as it now stands, of 



^^y^ a heterogeneous mass of species, which may hereafter be divided 



into many genera, instead of sections. 



(fi 



^own ; leaves on short petioles, oval-lanceolate, 3-nervecl, quite irtraXov, pctalon, a petal ; in reference to the petal 



and 

 are 



5d 2 



