Tas. 4978. 
SONERILA ExEGans. 
Hilegant Sonerila. 
Nat. Ord. MELAstomMacEm®.—TRIANDRIA Monoaynra. 
Gen. Char. Flores 3-meri. Calycis oblongi, subcylindrici, vel triquetri, rarius ’ 
turbinati dentes simplices, acuti, seepius breviores, persistentes aut sero decidui. 
Petala ovata vel oblongo-ovata, acuminata, nervo medio postice seepissime piloso. 
Stamina 3, cum petalis alternantia, rarissime 6 et tunc alternatim ineequalia ; 
antheris nunc subulatis aut linearibus, 1-porosis, nunc ovatis ovato- oblongisve 
obtusis biporosis interdumque admodum brevibus et quasi truncatis ; connectivo 
infra loculos nullo, postice autem supra filamenti insertionem basilarem aut sub- 
dorsalem nonnunquam tuberculato. Ovarium omnino aut vix non omnino adhe- 
rens, triloculare. Sylus filiformis, stigmate punctiformi aut capitellato. Capsula 
calycis tubo persistente vestita, ut plurimum triquetra, apice umbilicata, 3-valvis. 
Semina magis minusve regulariter ovoidea aut pyramidata.—Herbe interdum 
suffrutescentes, in India orientali insulisque vicinis indigene, inter Melastomaceas ob 
flores trimeros memorabiles, habitu autem maxime heterogeno, caulescentes et suba- 
caules, glabre et hirsute ; foliis haud infrequenter maxime inequalibus et hetero- 
morphis ; floribus ut plurimum in racemos scorpioideos dispositis, purpureis aut 
violaceis rarius albis. Naud. 
SONERILA elegans ; herbacea, ramis tetragonis, foliis longiuscule petiolatis ovatis 
acuminatis basi cordatis ciliato-serratis 5—7-nerviis parce pilosis discolo- 
ribus, pedunculis terminalibus cymoso-dichotomis ramis elongatis, floribus 
secundis, calycibus glanduloso-pilosis, antheris basi cordatis apice longe 
acuminatis. 
SoneRiua elegans. Wight, Ic. Plant. Ind. Or. v. 3. t. 995, 3. Walp. Annal. 
Bot. Syst. v. 1. p. 297. : 
SONERILA solanoides? Naud. Melast. Monog. Tent. p. 324-343. t. 18. f. 3. 
A most lovely Melastomaceous plant, native of the Neilgher- 
ries, remarkable for the beauty of its leaves and flowers, and 
singular among that natural Family for the ternary arrangement 
of the parts of the flower. ‘The leaves too are handsome, being 
purple on the under side, and the petioles are blood-red. We 
are obliged to Messrs. Veitch, of the Exeter and Chelsea Nur-— 
series, (who have introduced the plant to their stoves) for the 
opportunity of figuring it. It appears quite to accord with the © 
S. solanoides of Naudin, except that he describes his plant as 
APRIL lst, 1857. 
