BUETTNERIACE2E. 93 



ovate, pointleted, quite entire, leng-petioled : petiole cylindrical, and enlarged at the base ; 

 panicles corymbose, equalling or exceeding the petiole, puberulous ; calyx-segments lanceo- 

 late-linear, acuminate, much exceeding the column ; petals sessile, ovate*: appendage linear, 

 hluntish, tapering towards the base, three times exceeding the limb, and equalling the calyx j 

 column-lobes roundish, glandular ; connective prominent ; ovary covered with glands : style 

 distinct, short; capsule . . . .—Jacq. H. Schcenbr. 1. t. 46. — A high, trailing shrub; leaves 

 6"-8" long, and nearly as broad : petiole equalling the limb, or shorter ; flowers white, with 

 a red point on the petals. — Hab. Trinidad!, Or. ; [Venezuela]. 



Tribe III. HERMANNIE2E. — Column free above, h-androus, without sterile lobes: 

 anthers opposite to the corolla. 



5. MELOCHIA, L. 



(Riedleia, Vent. Mougeotia, Kth.) 



Calyx 5 -fid. Petals 5. Column adhering at the base to the petal-claws, divided into 

 five filaments, or entire: anthers bilocular. Styles 5, distinct or united below. Capsule 

 5-locular, 5-10-seeded. Embryo straight, enclosed by endosperm : cotyledons foliaceous. 

 — Shrubs or herbs ; leaves penninerved (i. e. with excurrent veins). 



Sect. 1. Eumelochia. — Capsule loculicidal, with the dissepiments cohering, at length se- 

 parating from the filiform axis. Column divided to the adnate base. — Flower-fascicles 

 axillary and terminal : flowers purple, devoid of an involucel. 



9. M. pyramidata, L. Suffrutescent ; leaves glabrous, oblong-lanceolate, crenate-ser- 

 rate ; flower-fascicles opposite to the leaf, few-flowered : peduncle nearly as long as the peti- 

 ole ; calyx somewhat exceeded by the corolla : lobes lanceolate, acuminate ; stamens united 

 only at the adnate base ; styles subdistinct ; capsule pyramidal, 5-angled : angles cuspidate 

 at the base externally. — SI. t. 139./. 1 ; Cav. Diss. t. 172. /. 1 ; As. Gr. Gen. Bor. Amer. 

 2. t. 134. — Stem l'-2' high: branches marked with a pubescent, longitudinal line; leaves 

 l"-2" long ; petals red, with yellow claws, obovate, 3'" long ; capsule 3"' long : diameter at 

 the base (with the points included) 5'". — Hab. Jamaica!, Macf; Bahamas!; Antigua!, 

 Nichols.; Dominica!, Imr.; [Texas!, Mexico!, Cuba!, Haiti!, Venezuela!, Guayaquil!, 

 Brazil !]. 



10. M. tomentosa, L. Shrubby; leaves usually tomentose, plicate-veined, tapering 

 from the ovate or subtruncate base, crenate or obtuse-serrate ; flower-fascicles mostly termi- 

 nal on short branches, peduncled ; calyx twice exceeded by the corolla : lobes lanceolate, 

 acuminate ; stamens united only at the adnate base ; styles distinct ; capsule trapezoid-py- 

 ramidal, tomentose, 5-angled : angles somewhat pointed externally. — SI. t. 138. f. 2, 3 ; 

 Cav. Diss. t. 172. /. 2. — M. frutescens, Jacq. — A shrub, 2'-5' high: branches tomentose 

 and glabrate ; leaves 2"-4'" long, bluntish or rounded at the top ; petals purple, clawed, 

 obovate, 6'" long ; capsule 2"'-3"' long and broad, shortly stalked. — A variety of this ap- 

 pears to be 



P. crenata, Vahl. Leaves small, oval-roundish, blunt, crenate ; " capsule oblong : angles 

 rounded."— Vahl, Symb. 3. t. 68.— Riedleia, DC— Leaves 4"'-6'" long, either tomentose 

 {Vahl) or glabrous (Hb. Benth.). Our Turk Islands specimens have the small leaves of 

 this, but with the white tomentum only on their under side : in their shape and serratures 

 they are not distinguished from o, nor in the capsule and its wings. — Hab. Jamaica !, M'Nab, 

 Al., March, in dry pastures; Turk Islands, Hjalmars.; Antigua!, Nichols.; S. Vincent!, 

 Anders. (j3); [Cuba! and Mexico! to Venezuela! and Brazil!]. 



Sect. 2. Riedleia. — Capsule septicidal and loculicidal. Column divided into subulate 

 filaments, which cohere sometimes at the top. — Mowers surrounded by a three-leaved in- 

 volucel, purple, glomerate : clusters spicate ; stipules striate, ovate-lanceolate, equalling 

 the short petiole. 



11. M. serrata, Benth. Shrubby, pilose; leaves ovate or ovate-oblong, bluntish, 

 coarsely duplicate-serrate : hairs chiefly on the veins ; flower-clusters in a terminal inter- 

 rupted spike, and axillary ; calyx half the length of the linear involucel-leaves : lobes lanceo- 



