796 



MELASTOMACEiE. LXXVI. Miconia. 



bifid ; flowers sessile, secund along the brandies, and with a 

 solitary one in each fork; calyx nearly globose, bluntly 10- 

 ribbed, with 5 short obtuse bent in lobes. h • "S- Native of the 



West 



Mela 



Seeds ovate, shining, with a basilar black hylum. Ker. hot, reg. 

 t, 363. Flowers whitish. 



Native of Guadaloupe, Trinidad, Cuba, &c. Nearly allied to 

 M. amhigua. Flowers white. 



CeanothtiS'like Miconia. Shrub 4 to 6 ft. 



72 M. MiNUTiFLORA (D. C. 1. c.) quitc glabrous ; branches 

 52. Flower-bud small, nearly globose, velvety. Capsule glo- nearly terete ; leaves petiolate, lanceolate, quite entire, 5-nerved, 

 bose, 5-celled, umbilicate from the calyx, and adhering to it. membranous ; thyrse terminal, panicled, loose ; calyx short, 



campanulate, hardly 5 crenate. Tj . S. Native of Cumana, 

 near the monument called Guacharo. Melastoma minutifl6ra, 

 Bonpl. mel. t. 22. Calyx nearly entire. Flowers minute, white; 

 petals roundish. Ovarium nearly free, 3-celled. According to 

 Bonpland's figure the nerves are rufescent beneath, and probably 

 from down. 



Minute-flowered Miconia. Shrub 6 ft. 



73 M. coRiA^cEA (D. C. 1. c.) branches tetragonal, and are, as 

 well as the petioles and nerves of leaves, beset with simple 

 hairs, which are rather glandular at the apex, intermixed with 



Miconia. Clt. 1815. Shrub 6 to 8 ft. 



M 



nearly terete, and are, as well as the petioles and panicles while 

 young, rather velvety from short down, but at length becoming 

 glabrous; leaves petiolate, broadly oval, short-acuminated, 3-5- 

 nerved, glabrous on both surfaces in the adult state ; panicle 

 corymbose, trichotomous, many-flowered, much branched; fruit 

 globose, bluntly 10-ribbed. Tj . S. Native of Martinique. 



Melastoma trichotoma, Desr. in Lam. diet. 4. p. 53. Seeds rough minute fascicles of down ; leaves petiolate, oval, callously 



ovate, angular, with a black hylum. 

 (rata. Compare it with Melastoma r 

 26. ex Ser. 



7'i/cAofowows-panicled Miconia. Shrub 4 to 6 ft. 



M 



serrated, coriaceous, terminating in a stiff point, wrinkled, 

 smoothish, with revolute margins ; thyrse terminal, panicled, 

 with crowded flowers, having its branches andrachis tetragonal; 



calyx turbinate, with obtuse permanent lobes, which are fur- 

 68 M. pra'sina (D. C. 1. c.) glabrous ; branchlets somewhat nished with one bristle each on the outside. T2 • S. Native of 

 tetragonal ; leaves petiolate, broad-lanceolate, quite entire, tri- Guadaloupe, on the top of the Sulphur Mountain. Melastoma 

 pie-nerved, glabrous on both surfaces ; thyrse panicled, termi- cori^cea, Swartz, fl. ind. occ. p. 790. Melast. cymbifolia, Rich. 



nal, with spreading filiform branches ; teeth of calyx 5, erect, 

 short, permanent. \i . S. Native of Jamaica and Hispaniola, 

 in woods. Melastoma prasina, Swartz, fl. ind. occ. p. 777. ex- 

 clusive of the synonyme of Aubl. This plant differs from the 



m Bonpl. mel. t. 26. Flowers yellowish. Stigma obtuse. 



Berry 



cinereous, 3-celled. Leaves concave beneath and convex above. 

 Con'rtceoM^-leaved Miconia. Shrub 3 to 6 ft. 

 74 M. SiEBE^Ri (D. C. 1. c.) quite glabrous ; branches tetra- 



figure given by Aublet, now M, microcarpa, in the leaves being gonal ; leaves petiolate, oval, with stiff* points, coriaceous, cal- 

 triple-nerved, not 5-nerved, quite entire, not somewhat denticu- lously serrated, 5-nerved, flattish ; thyrse terminal, panicled, 



crowded with flowers, having its rachisand branches tetragonal ; 

 bracteas oblong, membranous, under the branches of the pa- 

 nicle, h . S. Native of the island of Trinidad. Sieb. fl. 



lated, in being glabrous on both surfaces, not velvety on the 

 under surface, and in the teeth of the calyx being permanent, not 

 deciduous. Sec. 



Leek'green Miconia. Clt. 1817. Shrub 4 to 6 ft. 



trin. no. 260. Habit of M. coriacea, but is distinguished from 



69 M. microca'rpa (D. C. prod. 3. p. 189.) branchlets bluntly that plant in the smoothness. 

 tetragonal, but at length becoming terete, and are, as well as Sieber' s Wiconm. Shrub 4 to 6 feet. 



the panicles, petioles, and nerves of leaves on the under surface, 75 M. lute'scens (D. C. 1. c*) branchlets bluntly tetragonal, 



velvety from almost imperceptible stellate down ; leaves petio- and are as well as the petioles, nerves of leaves on the under 



late, ovate-lanceolate, acuminated, somewhat attenuated at the surface, and rachis yellowish ; leaves petiolate, oblong, acute 



base, 5-nerved, repandly denticulated, glabrous above, but beset at the base, and acuminated at the apex, glabrous above, but 



with scattered dot-like down between the nerves on the under 

 surface ; thyrse panicled, terminal, much branched, loose ; fruit 

 globose, bluntly 10-ribbed ; limb of calyx deciduous, very short, 

 toothed, truncate. 



\ 



Native of Brazil, in woods in the 



provinces of Para and Rio Negro; and probably of Guiana, if 

 M. laevigata, Aubl. guian. 1. p. 412. t. 59. is referrible to this 

 species, which is most likely the case. Flowers white. 



Smnll-fi 



Shrub 4 to 6 ft. 



clothed with white, deciduous, woolly down beneath when young 

 3-nerved, toothed ; thyrse terminal, panicled, many-flowered ; 

 calyx globose, with 5 very short, acute teeth. T? • S. Native 

 of Peru, near Loxa, on Mount Saraguru. Melastoma lutescens, 

 Bonpl. mel. t. 17. Petals roundish- obovate, white. Anthers 

 opening by I pore, 

 crow^ned. 



Stigma obtuse. 



Berry globose, S-celled, 



70 M. AMBiGUA (D. C. 1. c.) branchlets terete, glabrous? 



petiolat 



o 



Yellowish Miconia. Shrub 4 to 6 feet. 

 76 M. ThomasiVna (D. C. I.e.) glabrous; branchlets terete ; 

 leaves petiolate, oval, bluntish, triple-nerved, with quite entire 



nerved, somewhat denticulately serrated, membranous, powdery rather revolute edges', coriaceous ; cymes terminal, trifid at the 

 on the nerves beneath; thyrse terminal, panicled, loose-flowered, base, with its branches somewhat racemose ; tube of calyx tur- 

 powdery ; limb of calyx 5-toothed, permanent. Tj . S. Native 

 of South America, in Cumana, at Caripe. Melastoma ambigua, 

 Bonpl. mel. t. 25. Petals 5, white, roundish. Berry globose, 



binate, covered with scurfy stellate down, with 5 broad obtuse 

 lobes ; fruit globose, hispid from a few bristles. Tj . S. Native 



<» „ n 1 Tu . X. o x^ ', ' •' = ' of tlie Island of St. Thomas. Melastoma coriacea, Juss. m 



• A fl ' ^ ^'^ ^^^ conn.vent above the ova- herb. mus. par. Stamens 10 ; anthers without auricles. Petals 



rium afker flowering. 



Ambiguous Miconia. Shrub 6 ft. 



) 



5, oval. Seeds trigonal, cuneated, shining, with a hnear con- 

 cave hylum. Flowers yellowish. 



St. Thomas Miconia. Shrub 2 to 3 feet. 



77 M. astrola'sia (D. C. prod. 3. p. 190.) branches terete. 



Ir^LTkorL vi l? '.'n f^ r^'^" y°""^' "^°'*^"^ ""^ ^"^ ^'^ ^' ^^" ^« the panicles, under side of leaves, and F 



nL frf,r^fn f ^ t ?'V ^r^'"' P,'"°^'''' P^«t^-'^"- tioles densely clothed with rufous stellate down ; leaves on short 



alahro/,, nhT • f 1 T"" ^' '^o ^^^^'/l"'^!^ ^^'^^ entire, petioles, ovate, obtuse at the base, and acute at the apex, qu.te 



Si nertuL'."\hv '• Y'i ^T"'^ ^'f''^ '^' ? "^^^- ^"*'-' ^'^^-^^^ l>««et with dots of stellate down above, but at 



gmai nervules ; thyrse panicled, terminal ; berries globose, 



usually 10-ribbed, crowned by 5 obtuse conniving teeth, l^ . S.' 



~.....,., ^-«.»,»,v«, ui^oci. mill uuia ui aiciiait v.*-..... ~----. , 



length becoming smoothish ; panicle terminal, much brancuea. 

 b . S. Native of St. Dominao. Melastoma astrolasion, Spreng. 



