Tas. 8500. 
OSBECKIA sTELLaTaA. 
India and China. 
MELASTOMACEAE. Tribe OSBECKIEAE. 
OspEcnia, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. i. p. 744. 
Osbeckia stellata, D. Don, Prodr. Fl, Nepal. p. 221, et in Bot. Rey. t. 674; 
Hook. Exot. #1. t. 87; DC. Prodr. vol. iii. p. 142 (var. 8 exclus.); species 
O. hispidissimae, Wight affinis sed ramulis et foliis sparse strigosis, foliorum 
basibus rotundatis differt. 
Frutex, 1-2 m. altus. Ramuli tetragoni, superne rubentes, inferne cortice 
tenui obtecti, scabri. Folia opposita, ovato-lanceolata, apice acuminata, 
basi rotundata, 6-15 cm. longa, 2-5 em. lata, membranacea, sparse et 
brevissime strigillosa, ciliata, nervis 5; petio'i 0°8-1 em. longi. Fores 
terminales in cymam paucifloram aggregati; bracteae late triangulares, 
5 mm. longae, 5 mm. latae, ciliatae. Calycis tubus urceolatus, pallide 
viridis, 1:5 cm. longus, 1 em. diametro; segmenta 4, lineari-lanceolata, 
acute serrata, 1:3 em. longa, pili stellati, stipitati, apud calycis basin 
minuti, prope apicem ad 0°8 mm. longi, stipitibus viridibus, radiis circa 8 
rubentibus. Corolla lilacino-rubens, petalis 4 late ovatis vel orbicularibus 
ciliatis 3°5 cm. longis 8 em. latis. Stamina 8, aequalia, lutea; antherae 
incurvae connectivo antice bicalloso. Ovarium apice setosum ; stylus 
albus, elongatus, apice curvatus; stigma nigrum, simplex.— 0. spectosa, 
Hort. ex Naud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. sér. 3, vol. xiv. p. 73. 0. crinita B, Benth. 
MSS. in Herb. Kew. 0. septemnervia, Ham. in Wall. Cat, n. 4062 B.— 
J. J. CLARK. 
The Osbeckia which forms the subject of our illustration 
appears to have first attracted the attention of Dr. F. 
Buchanan (afterwards Hamilton) when he accompanied the 
embassy of Captain Knox to the Court of Nepal in 1802. 
None of the seeds then sent by him to Dr. Roxburgh, the 
superintendent of the Botanic Garden at Calcutta, appear 
to have reached Europe in a germinable state, and it was 
not until the period from 1816 to 1822, when Dr. Wallich, 
then in charge of the Calcutta garden, was successful in 
obtaining Himalayan seeds, that the plant was introduced to 
English horticulture. These seeds found their way to 
various prominent nurserymen, and by 1820 the plant was 
already under cultivation, by whom first raised is uncer- 
tain. In 1822 Messrs. Shepherd of Liverpool advertised 
the species as raised by them from seods collected near 
Khatmandu in Nepal. In the manuscript of his *¢ Exotic 
June, 1913. 
