Tas. 4394. 
SONERILA srricra. 
Upright Sonerila. 
Nat. Ord. MzLastoMaAcE®.—TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Gen. Char. Calycis tubus turbinato-trigonus, ad medium usque adherens ; 
margine libero, 3-dentato, circumscisse deciduo. Petala 3, summo calycis mar- 
gine inserta. Stamina 3, dentibus calycinis opposita ; axthere conformes, lan- 
ceolate, basi sagittata affixee, poris 2 apicalibus dehiscentes ; connectivum quale. 
Ovarium semi-adnatum, 3-loculare, Joculis dentibus calycinis oppositis, squamis 
tribus carnosis subrotundis petalis oppositis basi coheerentibus coronatum. 
Stylus filiformis, stigmate obtuso. Capsula in fundo tubi calycis, squamis epigynis 
ampliatis incrassatis coriaceis vestiti, immersa; apice intra calycem loculicido- 
trivalvis. Semina numerosa, recta.—Herbe v. suffruticuli; foliis oppositis, ple- 
rumque plus minus inequalibus, basi 3—T-nerviis v. quandoque indefinite penni- 
nerviis, membranaceis ; racemis axillaribus terminalibusve unilateralibus ; floribus 
majusculis, pulchre roseis v. ceruleis, rarissime tetrameris. Bennett. 
SONERILA séricta; annua, caule erecto stricto acute tetragono ramoso, foliis 
oppositis supremis quaternim, verticillatis lineari-lanceolatis puberulis remote 
serratis uninerviis discoloribus, spicis terminalibus paucifloris, rachi ovariis- 
que obtuso trigono-cylindraceis glanduloso-pilosis. . 
This, as far as I know, is the first species of the genus that 
has yet been cultivated in Europe. The seeds were received by 
Messrs. Veitch and Son of Exeter from Mr. Thomas Lobb, who 
collected them in Java. Flowering specimens were sent to me 
in May, 1848. At first sight, and especially in the leaves, this 
has very little the appearance of a Melastomaccous plant, and 
the trimerous character of the flower is at variance with most of 
the genera. It is an extremely interesting little plant, though 
it may not meet with much favour from cultivators in general. 
An admirable memoir on this genus, from the pen of Mr. 
Bennett, will be found in Horsfield’s “ Planta Javanicee rariores :” 
but the present is not described among the fourteen species 
there characterized, nor do we find it in any other work. 
Descr. Roof annual. Stem slender, tetragonous, red, erect, 
ched, a span and more high. Zeaves in remote pairs, except 
uppermost on the branches, which are in a whorl of four, all 
SEPTEMBER Isr, 1848, K 2 
