252 MELASTOMACE.E 



Tiploch. Swartziana, DC. D. florida, DC. ap. Crueg. ! D. rosea, Mac/. Miconia Fother- 

 gilla, Naud. — A tree, 10'-50' high; Jeaves 3"-6" long; pedicels 3-6, bibracteate at the 

 top ; calyx-tube somewhat furrowed : teeth roundish or obsolete ; petals white and tinged 

 with crimson, or sometimes rosy ; anthers bitubercled at the base on the anterior side ; 

 seeds pyramidal. — Hab. Jamaica !, Mac/., Pel., AL, Wih., in mouutaiu woods to 4000' alt. , 

 Dominica !, Imr. ; S. Vincent !, Guild. ,- Trinidad !, Sieb. Trin. 60 ; Cr. ; [Portorieo !, French 

 islands ! ; Mexico to Brazil!]. 



33. D. mucronata, DC. Leaves oval, cuspidate, 5-plinerved, subentire, petioled, rusty 

 with appressed down beneath ; panicle with clustered flowers ; bracts obovate, large; calyx 

 ciliate at the throat ; petals 5-6, glabrous ; ovary usually 4-locular : stigma minute, blunt. — 

 Bonpl. Mel. t. 18. Mart. Nov. Gen. t. 274. — D. bracteata, DC. Miconia mucronata, Naud. 

 — A small tree, 20'-30' high; leaves 4"-S" long ; flowers subsessile, bibracteate; calyx-tube 

 not furrowed : teeth ovate, bluutish, deciduous ; petals white, fragrant ; anthers bitubercled 

 at the base on the anterior side. — Hab. Triuidad ! ; [Guiana! to equatorial Brazil !]. 



34. D. serrulata, DC. Leaves ovate or elliptical-oblong, %-§~nerved, crenate, pe- 

 troled, rusty-downy beneath, as are the branchlets ; pauicle with clustered flowers ; bracts 

 smaller than the calyx ; calyx-tube furrowed ; petals 5-6, tomentose on the outside ; ovary 

 4-5-loeular : stigma thickened, blunt. — Miconia, Naud. M. argentea, DC. M. elata, DC. 

 — Melastoma acinodendron, L. ex Sloan, sec. hb. Bks. M. argentea, Sw.l .• a hoary form. 

 M. elata, Sw.l: the common, rusty form. — A tree, 3O'-40' high: branchlets compressed; 

 leaves 4"-12" long, 3"-4" broad, densely and deeply crenate, variable in the shape and 

 down ; flowers subsessile ; bracts ovate, deciduous ; calyx-teeth very short, roundish or ob- 

 solete ; anthers bitubercled at the base on the anterior side. 



a. Leaves ovate, blunt, with a point, minutely cordate at the base, 5-nerved. 



P. leucocephala, DC. Leaves elliptical-oblong, more or less pointed, blunt at the base, 

 3-5-nerved, rusty-glaucous and less downy beneath. — Decaraphe Hostmanni, Steud. I — 

 An arborescent shrub, 20'-30' high ; leaves 3"-6" long, 2"-3" broad ; petals white.— This 

 is the common continental form. — Hab. Jamaica!, AL (a), in mountain woods ; Triuidad!, 

 Seh. (a) ; Cr. (/3) ; [Cuba ! (a), S. Thomas ; Mexico to Guiana ! and Brazil !]. 



35. D. parviflora, Benth. I Leaves oval, cuspidate, 3-nerved, subentire, petioled, rusty 

 or whitish beneath with a very short, appressed down; panicle with clustered flowers ; 

 bracts oblong-linear, half the length of the calyx-tube j petals 5, glabrous ; ovary 3-locular : 

 stigma minute. — D. caudata, Crueg. (non DC). Miconia verticilliflora, Steud. ap.Naud. — 

 A shrub, 18'-30' high ; leaves 3"-I5" long ; branches of the panicle crowded, and divided 

 like a corymb : flowers subsessile, bibracteate : bracts blunt, deciduous ; calyx-tube some- 

 what furrowed, about IV" long, scarcely longer than the limb : teeth very short, roundish, 

 deciduous; anthers produced into a short, blunt spur on the posterior, and somewhat glan- 

 dular at the base on the anterior side.— Hab. Trinidad !, Lockh., Sch., in mountain woods ; 

 [Guiana !]. 



36. D. sessilifclia, Or. Leaves large, elliptical-oblong or spathulate, protracted at 

 the base and clasping, conspicuously tripli-quintuplinerved, entire, rusty-cinnamon or glau- 

 cous beneath with a very short, appressed down ; panicle loose, with 2-3-flowered clusters ; 

 calyx-tube tomentose, not furrowed ; petals 5, glabrous ; ovary 3-locular -. stigma minute, 

 blunt. — Plukn. Phgt. t. 249./". 2 -. a single leaf from Guiana. — Melastoma sessilifolia, L. 

 sp. {excl. syn. Br. Jam.). Miconia Tlukenetii, Naud. — A tree; leaves 8"-24" long, some- 

 what wavy at the euneate or blunt base : the lateral nerves in the bipedal leaf separating 

 about 3" above the base ; pauicle often 1' long : inferior branches ascending, elongated, ra- 

 cemiform ; flower-heads bibracteate and lateral flowers bibracteolate, the central one ebrac- 

 teolate : bracts oblong, bracteoles oblong-linear, equalling the calyx-tube ; calyx-teeth lan- 

 ceolate, bluntish, deciduous ; petals white ; anthers densely glandular at the base on the 

 anterior side ; seeds angular, with the testa loose, rugose. — Hab. Trinidad !, Lockh., Cr., in 

 moist woods ; [Guiana]. 



37- D. tomentosa, Gr. Leaves large, elliptical and euneate at the base, subsessile or 

 shortly petioled, conspicuously triplinerved, entire, glabrescent above, rough with, stellate 

 down beneath ; panicle contracted, elongated : flowers clusl ered ; calyx-tube tomentose, not 

 furrowed ; petals 5, glabrous ; ovary 3-5-locidar . stigma minute, blunt. — Bonpl. Mel. t. 

 16. — Melastoma, Bonpl. Miconia, DC. M. brunuea, DC. Jacunda tomentosa, Benth. 



