id i 
THE FLORA OF MOUNT PULOG. 367 
MELASTOMATACEZ. 
OSBECKIA L. 
1. O. chinensis L. Sp. Pl. (1753) 490. . 
Common in the pine region below an altitude of 1,800 m, C. M. Z. 16168, 
16329. 
Widely distributed in the Philippines, from sea level to medium and higher 
altitudes; India to Japan southward to New Guinea and tropical Australia. 
MELASTOMA L. 
1. M. toppingii Merr. in Govt. Lab. Publ. (Philip.) 17 (1904) 38. 
In the pine region, below an altitude of 1,800 m, C. M. Z, 18167. 
Known only from the Benguet-Lepanto region, and represented by the type, 
Topping 17, from Baguio, also Williams 1041 from the same locality, and by 
For. Bur. 14482 Darling from Mount Malaya, Lepanto. In some respects the 
species closely approaches the genus Otanthera, but the connective being produced 
from 1 to 1.5 mm, it is considered best to retain the species in Melastoma, even 
though there is no great difference in the length of the stamens. The species is 
well characterized by its stellately or fasciculately arranged calyx-setae, the 
fascicles being subsessile or shortly pedicelled. The species belongs apparently 
in section III of the genus in Cogniaux’s monograph. 
2. Melastoma bensonii Merrill sp. nov. 
Frutex 1 ad 2 m altus, omnibus partibus plus minus setoso-strigosus ; 
foliis 5- vel 7-nerviis, ovatis vel elliptico-ovatis, acutis vel obscure acu- 
minatis, subtus pulcherrime et valde reticulatis; floribus pentameris, 
staminibus inaequalibus, antheris oblongis, majorum connectivis basi bre- 
viter (2.5 ad 3 mm) productis, antice bicalcaratis, minorum connectivis 
basi vix productis. 
An erect, much branched shrub 1 to 2 m high. Branches brown, 
terete, the older ones glabrescent, the younger ones densely covered with 
slender, subappressed or ascending, subulate setae. Leaves coriaceous, 
ovate to elliptic-ovate, 4 to 9 em long, 1.5 to 4.5 cm wide, the base 
rounded or somewhat acute, the apex acute or slightly acuminate, both 
surfaces with numerous slender, somewhat spreading, curved, subulate, 
1 to 3 mm long setae; nerves 5 or 7, distinct, the reticulations beneath 
prominent, the ultimate ones olivaceous or blackish; petioles 5 to 18 
mm long. Flowers 5-merous, pink, crowded in the uppermost axils 
or terminating the branchlets, their pedicels 3 to 4 mm long. Calyx 
about 8 mm long, densely covered with somewhat curved and spreading, 
subulate setae similar to those on other parts of the plant, the calyx- 
teeth about 3 mm long, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, setose; bracteoles 
ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, setose, about 4 mm long. Petals 
obovate, slightly inequilateral, about 18 mm long, 11 mm wide, margins 
ciliate-setose, rounded. The five longer stamens 9 to 10 mm in length, 
their anthers oblong, 4 mm long, the connective produced 2.5 to 3 mm, 
