449 LVI1. MELASTOMACEZ (HOOKER). [ Osbeckia. 
nerved, entire or serrulate. Flowers capitate panicled or sub-racemose, 
rose-coloured or purple. 
A very large Tropical Asiatic genus, closely allied to Dissotis, and only distingnish- 
able by the structure of the anthers. 
Leaves ovate, petioled. Anthers minute. 
Fruiting calyx with a long cylindric top . . . . - . « 1. O. tubulosa. 
Fruiting calyx with a short top . . . . . . . + + « 2 O. multiflora. | 
Leaves oblong-lanceolate, subsessile. Anthers large. . . . 3. O. senegambiensis. 
1. O. multiflora, Sm. in Rees Cycl. xxv. Stem 4 ft., shrubby below, 
branched, leafy ; branches slender, 4-angled, strigose ; nodes obscurely 
bristly. Leaves 214 in. by 2-14 in., rather membranous, ovate or ovate- 
lanceolate, acuminate, obscurely serrulate, 5-nerved, base rounded or 
subcordate, dark green and scabrid above, with short appressed bristles, 
pale green and substrigose below, especially on the nerves ; petiole 
4-} in. Flowers 5-merous, small, } in. in diameter, pale rose-coloured, 
in very short terminal panicled racemes that form hispid balls in flower 
but lengthen in fruit; bracts green, shorter than the calyx, ovate-lan- 
ceolate, ciliate. Calyx-tube turgid, 1 in., densely bristly and clothed 
above with scales, crowned by stellately and palmately arranged 
bristles; lobes small, subulate, tipped with stellate bristles, very de- 
ciduous. Petals small, din. long, obovate, tip ciliate. Anthers all 
equal and similar, } in., about equalling the slender filament; connec- . 
tive very shortly produced, and 2-tubercled in front. Style slender, 
stigma capitellate. Capsule globose, sunk in the shortly urceolate, 
hispid, ribbed calyx-tube, which is 4 in. long, 5-valved and hispid at 
the top—DC. Prod. iii. 143; Benth. in Fl. Nigr. 347. Melastoma 
Afzelianum, Don in Trans, Wern. Soc. iv. 291; DC. Prod. iii. 147. 
Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone, Afzelius! Don! Onitsha, Barter ! 
2. O.tubulosa, Sm. in Rees Cycl.xxv. Annual. Stem erect, 1-3 ft., 
sparingly branched and leafy, weak, acutely 4-angled, with a row of 
appressed bristles at the angles, and long erect ones at the nodes ; 
branches setose. Leaves distant, 14-34 in. by 1-2 in., membranous, ovate, 
acute, 5-nerved, margins cartilaginous, obscurely waved or crenate, 
substrigosely hairy on both surfaces ; petiole 4-3 in., hispid. Flowers 
sessile, 5-merous, solitary or in terminal, interrupted, unilateral cymes; 
bracts 2, much shorter than the calyx, ovate, membranous, ciliate, very 
deciduous. Calyx-tube din., urceolate, ventricose below, scabrid and 
covered with persistent scales crowned by stellately arranged bristles ; 
upper part tubular with deciduous bristle-crowned scales; lobes 5, 
shorter than the tubular portion, ovate or subulate, acuminate, ciliate 
and bristle-pointed, very early deciduous. Petals small, +5 in., obovate, 
purple? Anthers minute, jy in., all equal; connective very shortly 
produced, very minutely tubercled in front, filaments +5 in., slender. 
Style filiform, stigma capitellate. Capsule adherent to the turgid part 
of the calyx-tube, its free top crowned with a pencil of white hairs, 
4-valved—DC. Prod. iii. 143; Benth. in Fl. Nigr. 345, 
Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone, Afzelius! Don! Vogel! Barter! Fl. May. 
