MELASTOMACEAE 925 
E Be filiformis L. Stems matted, dod 
s 3-6 in a spike: inner sepals 
of 
plants HC on aod a ad woody 
hosts. 
OrpER MYRTALES — MYRTAL ORDER 
Herbs, shrubs, or trees, sometimes aquatie or amphibious. Leaves 
alternate or opposite. Flowers regular or irregular, complete or much 
reduced. ypanthium merely enclosing the ovary or adnate to it. An- 
droecium of few or many stamens: anthers opening by slits or pores. 
Gynoecium l-several-earpellary. Fruit capsular, baeeate, or achene-like. 
Style present, simple or Aee a stigma terminal. 
Anthers opening by pores Fam. 1. MELASTOMACEAE. 
Anthers opar by longitudinal valves 
Hypanthium nes E the ov 5 Fam. 2. LYTHRACEAE. 
Hypanthium a the ovary or Paine SO. 
dn 
otyledons spirally. convolute in the embryo. 
Ovary several-celled : ovules numerous, not 
bed ulous. Fam. 3. PURICACEAE. 
Ovary 1-celled: ovules 2-5, pendulous. Fam. 4. EM IL CERE 
Cotyledons. not spirally convolute. 
Sepals imbricated, or united and the calyx 
fa ling away as a cap. am. 5. MYRTACEAE. 
Sepals valvate 
Leaves stipulate: sepals leathery. Fam. 6. RHIZOPHORACEAE. 
eaves not stipula ME ueni mem- 
branous or herbac Fam. 7. EPILOBIACEAE. 
Styles wanting: stigmas sessile. Fam. 8. GUNNERACEAE. 
FAMILY d. MELASTOMACEAH — MEApOw-BEAUTY FAMILY 
Herbs, shrubs, or trees. Leaves opposite: blades with 3-several ribs. 
Flowers perfect. Calyx of 3-6 sepals surmounting the hypanthium. 
Corolla of 3-6 oblique petals. Androecium of 6-12 stamens, those oppo- 
site the petals sometimes abortive. d of 3-5 united carpels. 
Ovary enclosed in or adnate to the hypanthium. Fruit baeeate or cap- 
sular.—One hundred and Atty oa ad about 2,500 species, most abun- 
dant in tropical South Ameri 
Herbs: fruit a capsule. . 1. RHEXIA. 
Shrubs or trees: fruit a berry. . 2. TETRAZYGIA, 
1. RHEXIA L. Perennial herbs with rootstocks. Leaf-blades usually 
3—o-ribbed. Hypanthium ureeolate, prolonged beyond the ovary. Sepals 4. 
Petals 4, deciduous. Ovary 4-celled, free. Capsule ineluded, 4-valved.— 
About 15 species, natives of eastern North America and Cuba.—MAID-MARIAN. 
MEADOW-BEAUTIES.—Most of the species grow in highly acid soils. 
