MELASTOMACEiE. 201 



minute stigma. — Melastoma, Sic. ! Sagrsea neurocarpa, Naud. Ossaa micrantha, Marf. 

 — A slender shrub, 2' high ; leaves 4"-6" long, comparatively large, membranaceous, shortly- 

 tapering at both ends, crenulate-repand or subentire: petiole 8"'-12'" long; cymes tricho- 

 tomous, divaricated : pedicels shorter than the flower or equalling it, but by growth three times 

 longer than the berry ; calyx 1"' long, narrow ; petals equalling the length of the calyx, 

 white, with a red blot at the base ; berry ]'" diam., globose, "white," greenish in a younger 

 state and then octagonal by the paler-coloured ribs. — Hab. Jamaica !, in the central and 

 western mountains ; Pd., AL, Wils., WullschL, at 2000'. 



16. CREMANIUM, Bon, reform. 

 (Miconia; sp., Naud. Osssese sp., BC.) 



Calyx turbinate or semiglobose : limb reduced : teeth short, bluntish or obsolete. An- 

 thers 10-8-4, obovate, truncate, inflexed above the ovary, tailed, opening with 4 or 2 termi- 

 nal pores, or the pores confluent into a single foramen : filaments jointed at the knee with the 

 deeply inflexed, tapering tail ; cells subdbnnected above, without special furrow. Ovary ad- 

 herent, crowned with a glabrous neck or umbilicated at the top. — Shrubs or low trees, 

 usually glabrous ; panicles or corymbiform cymes terminal or axillary : flowers minute : 

 pedicels jointed and bibracteolate at the top, or none ; petals 4-5, obovate, blunt. 



This natural genus, erroneously characterized by the variable number of the pores of the 

 anther, is distinguished from Miconia by the peculiar tail of this organ, which often assumes 

 the shape of a connective, bearing the short cells on its upper part. The number of anther- 

 pores is differently described by different authors often in the same species : but the fact is, 

 that the very narrow dissepiments do not present the same growth in all flowers, and may 

 sometimes disappear with development : thus in the same panicle of C. rubens I observe 4 

 and 2 pores, and in other flowers the dissepiments evanescent. 



* Cymes axillary or lateral. 



69. C. virgatum, Gr. Glabrous : leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, triplinerved ; 

 cymes corymbiform, lateral : lateral pedicels slender, as long as the flower ; anthers 8 : tail 

 without appendage ; stigma minute, blunt ; berry 4-locular, not ribbed.- — Melastoma, Sw. ! 

 Sagrsea, Mac/. Osseea purpurascens, Mac/. ! {an DC. ?). — A low tree, 20-25' high, or 

 shrubby : branchlets obtuse-angled, with the under side of leaf-ribs purple-coloured ; leaves 

 3"-6" long, 1"-1£" broad, papery or somewhat leathery, polished above, denticulate or 

 entire: veins transverse ; petiole 6"'- 12"' long; cymes l"-2" long, loose : bracteoles mi- 

 nute ; calyx 1"' long : tube turbinate ; petals 4, equalling the length of the calyx ; anther- 

 pores 1-2 ; style exceeding the corolla ; berry (2"' long) ovate. — Melastoma jiurpurascens, 

 Sw. (Osseea, BC, Miconia ossaeafformis, Naud.), is unknown to me, but it was considered 

 by M'Fadyen to be our plant : the description however disagrees, by the inflorescence nearly 

 equalling the leaves, the leaves less triplinerved, and their veins approximate. — Hab. Jamai- 

 ca !, in mountain woods, Sw., Mac/., March, Wils. 



70. C. amygdalinum, Gr. Glabrous; leaves elliptical or elliptical-lanceolate, 

 triplinerved ; cymes racemiform, lateral or axillary : pedicels short or none ; anthers 8-10 : 

 tail without appendage ; stigma capitate ; berry 4-5-locular. — Bonpl. Mel. t. 37 : a form 

 with serrate leaves ; t. 36 : the same with reduced cymes in fruit. — Melastoma, Besr., 

 Bonpl. Osssea amygdalina, multiflora, acuminata, BC. O. brachystachya, integrifolia, 

 Naud. ! llenriettea racejnosa, Marf. ? Creman. axillare, Mac/. — A shrub, 2'-10' high : 

 branchlets obtuse-angled ; leaves 2''-4" long, often pointleted, but variable in the form, the 

 margin either serrulate or entire, the distance of the lateral ribs from the base, and the veins 

 cither transverse or oblique : axils of nerves usually with a small tuft of hairs : petiole 3" - 

 8'" long; cymes usually 1" long, exceeded by the leaf, simply or twice divided: ultimate 

 flowers ternate, either clustered or shortly fascicled, with thickish pedicels and minute, deci- 

 duous bracteoles ; calyx subglobose, rounded at the base, V" long ; petals 4-5, equalling the 

 length of the calyx, white ; anther-pores 2. Flowers sometimes polygamous, or dioecious, 

 as are those of C. rubens. — Hab. Jamaica !, March, AL, Wits., in mountain woods, at 2000' 

 alt. ; [Cuba ! to Venezuela]. 



** Panicle terminal (sometimes accessory ones/rom the axils). 

 71. C. rubens, BC. Glabrous; leaves elliptical or elliptical-lanceolate, pointed, tri- 



