20 Dr. Jack on the Malayan Species of Melastoma. 
other, and differ considerably in habit from the other Me- 
lastome chiefly in their extreme smoothness and the greater 
delicacy of their flowers. The latter is by far the most 
frequent, and appears to prefer the neighbourhood of the 
sea. The tubercles of the leaf are formed by the incurving 
of its base upon the petiole at the point of junction: they 
are rarely exactly opposite, but generally higher on the one 
side than the other. The petals have a kind of appendix or 
toothlet on the margin, a little above the middle. In the 
former species the petals are singularly transparent and 
delicate. 
18. MELASTOMA ALPESTRIS. 
Tas. I. Fig. 3. a—d. 
M. decandra, paniculis terminalibus, foliis sessilibus glaberrimis 
` crenulatis quintuplinerviis. 
. Found on the summit of the Sugar-loaf Mountain (Gunong 
Bánko) in Sumatra. 
A small shrub, with smooth sub-dichotomous branches. Leaves 
opposite, sessile, semi-amplexicaul, ovate, elongated up- 
wards, obsoletely crenate, very smooth, coriaceous, pale 
green, with a purplish shade beneath, quintuple-nerved ; 
three to four inches long. A circle of short brown threads 
in the axils. Panicles terminal, divaricate, flesh-coloured. 
Bracts small. Calyx five-dentate. Corolla five-petalled, of 
a delicate flesh-colour, rotate; petals obtusely notched at 
the point. Stamina ten, ascending, equal. Anthers similar 
and equal, curved, beaked, dark-purple, having a toothlet 
or spur behind ; before expansion their points reach about 
half way down between the calyx and ovary. Style simple. 
Berries red, five-celled, many-seeded. 
Os. This is the first decandrous species I have met with belong- 
ing 
