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LX. MELASTOMACE^. (C 



517 



bristle-beaTing scales. Anthers with a beak much longer than half their length, with 

 two tubercles at the base. Bristles on the apex of the ovaj-i/ more than 50. Fruit 



J-| in. broad, urn-shaped, entirely without neck; scales permanent, calyx-segments 

 eciduous. 



y";9. O. stellata, Wall. Cat 4062; branches with short adpressed rigid 

 nairg, calyx-tube most densely covered with stellate white yellow or brown 

 hairs, teeth stellate hairy, neck of the fruit short or not exceeding half the 

 length of the fruiting ovary dilated at the top. DC. P>'odr, 142 as to van a. ; 

 Bot Reg, t. 674 ; Hooh. Exot. FL i. t, 37 ; Dm Frodr. 221, partli/. O. crinita, 

 Naud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 3. xiv. 72 ; Sinitli in Wall. Cat. 4062 ; Kurz in 

 Jm?^. As. Soc. 1877, pt. ii. 76. Melastoma crinita, Foxb. FL Ind. u. 402. 



.V 



HiMAiAYA Terai from KiratAON to Bhotan, common; ascending the hills to 

 5900 ft. alt. Chittagong; Roxburgh. — Disthib. Canton. 



Shrub 4-6 ft. ; branches tetragonal. Leaven 3 in., lanceolate, 5-nerved, with 

 short hairs on both surfaces or in hot moist valleys glabrous, narrowed or subcordate 

 at the base ; petiole f in. Flowers large, rose-purple, clustered or in somewhat close 

 corymbs ; bracts ovate, acute, not very hairy on the back. Calyx-tube so densely 

 clothed with hairs as to have a woolly appearance and texture. Bristles on the apex 

 of the ovary about 20. Fruit | by ^ in. including the short neck, ovoid-oblong, densely 

 woolly.— Don's description of 0. stellata says the flowers are 4-5-fid ; as 5-fid flowers 

 are not known in our 0. stellata but are frequent in our 0. crinita, Don probably in- 

 cluded under one name both our species. Naudin's descriptions of 0, stellata and 0, 

 crinita only differ in assigning the long-necked fruit to 0. stellata ; therefore Naudin's 

 ^. stellata is our O, crinita. As Triana gives no descriptions or remarks, but quotes 

 both Wall. Cat. 4062 and Naudin's 0. stellata as one species, it cannot be guessed 

 which of the two forms Triana took as 0. stellata. The real distinction between 0, 

 cnnita and 0. stellata lies in the extreme thick woolliness of the covering of the 

 ^lyx-tube in our 0. stellata : consequently Sir J. Smith has "WTitten on the original 

 Wall. Cat. 4062 (type spec.) " OsbecJcia ? nov. sp. (crinita)." Sir W. J. Hooker states 

 ^jifixot. Fl. 1. c.) that he changed the name from 0. crinita to 0. stellata and got Don 

 w> accept the name 0, stellata. Subsequently Mr. Bentham gave the name 0, crinita 

 ,«> the next species which has a less hairy calyx. 



V^^.IO. O. crinita, JBenth. in Wall. Cat. 4066; bmnches with spreading 

 *^irs, calyx-tube with many stellate rufous-brown bail's feeth stellate hairy, neclt 



g or 



01 the fruit (in Wall. Oat. 4066 typical example not quite ripe) equallin^ 

 Receding the fruiting ovary much longer than its own Ireadth, O. stellata^ 

 -JJwi Prodr. 221, partly. 0. stellata var. ^., DC. Frodr. iii. 142. O. stellata, 

 -^aurf. in Ann. Sc, Nat. ser. 3. xiv. 72. 



S F 



- SmciM and Bhotan, alt. 4000-8500 ft., abundant. Khasta Mts,, alt. 3000-6000 ft. 

 JttorLMEm. alt. 7000 ft. ; Parish. 



. C)hrub 4-^8 ft., much branched. Leaves 2-4 in., lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, 

 oristly on both surfaces, narrowed or subcordate at the base ; petiole ^-J in. Flowers 

 ^e (generally smaller than those of 0. stellata), 4-fid and not infrequently 6-fid, 

 P^leor pure white, in somewhat close corymbs; bracts ovate, acute, usually \qtj 

 J\airy on the back. Bristles on the apex of the ovary about 20. Fruit | in. including 

 Mie neck, ovoid, suddenly narrowed into the cylindric neck, often nearly glabrous.— The 

 tT V ^^ *^- ^»*"^^ at Darjeeling have usuaUy a few 5-fid flowers at the summits of 

 n L^^°^^®®' ^"d there is a large-flowered white variety at 4000 ft. alt. which has 

 ?U the flowers 5-fid. 0. speciosa, Herb. Hook, {not Don) is a low-level form with spread- 

 ing hairs on the stem but the stellate hairs of the calyx white or yellow not rufous. 



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Prodr. 221 ; stem quadrangular glabrous or with 



(ound larere, fruit ovoid suddenly narrowed 



?i2:* ^^^ cylindric 



*^^«i. 53 J Kurz in Jaum. As. Soc. 1877, pt. u. 74. 



143 : Triana in Trans. Linn 



ternifolia, Don Frodr 



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