104 ENUMEEATION OF \_MelastomacecB. 



Arbor magna. Bamuli petiolique janiores fugaci-ferrugineo-pilosi. Folia 3-5 

 poll, longa, li-2i poll, lata, petioh 3-5 lin. longo. Flores parvi, albidi, Calt/x 

 campanulatus, brevi-dentatus, externa pilosulus, interne viUosus. Drtfpa glabrse, 

 virides, poUicares. 



Sect. 2. Peuta_ptera, 



— -r 



4. T. glabra, W. et A., 1. c. p. 314, cum syn. — c.r. 1603. 

 Hab, Very abundant on the banks of rivers, up to an elevation of 

 2000 feet. Norn. vulg. " Koombook-gass-" 



In my specimens the ramuli and the under side of the young leaves are puberulous, 

 furnishing an additional reason for believing Pent, tomentosa^ Roxb., to be merely a 

 variety of the present plant, as suspected by Dr. Wallich, 



^ XXIII. MELASTOMACE^. 



Sect. MelastomecB. 

 1. OSBECKIA, Linn. 



r 



(Nom. vemac. " Bowitteya," "Heen-bowitteya.") 



t Floribus teirameris^ 



1. O. Leschenaultiana, DC. Prod, iii.' 142 ; AViglit, Icon. t. 996; 

 Spic. Nilgh. i. t. 68 ; non Naudin, Ann. des Sci. Nat. ser. 3. vol. xiv* 

 p. 65 (quoad descript.). — O. truncatayDon-, W, et A. Prod. i. 322; 

 Arnott m Comp. to Bot. Mag. ii, 308 ; Walp. Kep. ii. pp. 135, 136. 

 O. parvifolia, Arn. 1. c. ; Walp. 1. e. — 0. erythrocephala^ Naud. 1. c. 

 p. 58.— c.p. 1576 (P c.p. 284), 



Hab. Abundant in the Central Province, up to an elevation of 7000 

 feet. 



A most variable species as regards the amount of pubescence and the size of the 

 leaves, and I am unable to divide it into even distinct varieties, so completely do the 

 several forms merge one into the other when a large seiies is examined. A speci- 

 men in the Herbarium, numbered c.p. 284, is, I suspect, a hybrid between the pre- 

 sent species and 0, aspera^ some of its flowers having eight and others ten stamens, 

 with anthers much longer than those of 0, Leschenaultiana* In habit and pubes- 

 cence it resembles the last-named species, but in the shape of the leaves and in 

 other respects it is just intermediate between the two. 



2. O. Zeylauica, Linn. f. (W. et A., 1. c. cum syn. ; non Naudin, L c. 

 p. 71). — 0. serialise Naud. 1. c. p. 67. — c.p. 1575. 



Hab. Amongst grass, in sandy soil: in the hot, drier parts of the 

 island. 



3. O- Rheedii, Gardn. MSS. ; foliis rigidis, 3-nerviis, sparse ad- 

 presse setulosia, ovato-lanceolatis, basi plu^ minus angustatis, subtus 

 pallidioribus ; Jlorihus ternis, subsessilibus ; calycis strigosi deutibus 

 triangularibus, tubo subaequilongis ; antJieris oblongis, obtusis, 1-porosia ; 

 connective infra loculos conspicue producto. — c.v. 129 (441). 



Hab. Adam's Peak, near the summit. 



Frtdex parvus. EamuU tetragoni, scabri. Folia ^~\\ poll, longa, 4-7 hn. lata, 

 subtus ad nervos scabra, petiolo scabro li-2 Un. longo. Fefala rotundata, acumi- 

 nata, pallidc purpurea, circiter 4 lin. longa. Ovarium 4-loculare, loculis circiter 

 8-ovTilatis. 



