298 LYTHBACEAE. 



1. TETRAZYGIA L. C. Rich.; DC. Prodr. 3: 172. 1828. 



Trees or shrubs, the foliage often scurfy, with petioled, entire or toothed 

 leaves, and rather small flowers in terminal panicles or corymbs. Calyx con- 

 stricted above the ovary, its limb 4 5-lobed or subtruncate. Petals 4 or 5, 

 obovate. Stamens 8 or 10, nearly equal ; filaments subulate ; anthers linear, 

 opening by a pore. Ovary 4- 5-celled; style curved, filiform; stigma minute. 

 Fruit a 4 5-celled fleshy berry. [Greek, referring to the 4-parted flowers of 

 the type species.] About 16 species of the West Indian region. Type species: 

 Tetrazygia tetrandra (Sw.) DC. 



1. Tetrazygia bicolor (Mill.) Cogn. in DC. Monogr. Phan. 7: 724. 1891. 

 Melastoma bicolor Mill. Diet. ed. 8, No. 6. 1768. 



A shrub or small tree up to 6 m. high, with scaly bark, the young twigs 

 scurfy. Leaves lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 0.8-2 dm. long, strongly 3- 

 ribbed and with many widely spreading lateral veins, entire, acuminate at 

 the apex, mostly obtuse at the base, green above, whitish-scurfy beneath, the 

 slender scurfy petioles 2-4 em. long; panicles peduncled, 1-2 dm. long, sev- 

 eral-many-flowered; pedicels slender, 5-10 mm. long; calyx-limb subtruncate; 

 petals 4, white, 7-8 mm. long; berry subglobose, purple or black, 8-10 mm, 

 in diameter. 



Scrub-lands, pine-lands and coppices, Abaco, Great Bahama, Andros, New Provi- 

 dence and Eleuthera : Florida : Cuba. Reported by Grisebach and by Dolley as 

 T. anyustiflora Griseb. and by Schoepf as Melastoma discolor L. TETRAZYGIA. 



Family 2. LYTHRACEAE Lindl. 

 LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY. 



Herbs, shrubs, or often trees in tropical regions, mostly with opposite 

 leaves and perfect flowers. Stipules usually none. Calyx persistent, free 

 from the ovary, the linib toothed. Petals as many as the primary calyx- 

 teeth, inserted on the calyx, or none. Stamens inserted on the calyx. 

 Anthers versatile. Ovary 2 6-eelled or sometimes 1-celled ; style 1 ; ovules 

 oo , rarely few, anatropous. Capsule 1-several-celled. Seeds without endo- 

 sperm; cotyledons flat, often auricled at the base. About 21 genera and 

 400 species, of wide distribution. 



Fruit globose : flowers regular. 



Herbs with axillary inflorescence. 1. Ammannia. 



Shrubs or small trees with terminal inflorescence. 1. Lawsonia. 



Fruit elongated ; flowers irregular. 3. Parsonsia. 



1. AMMANNIA [Houst.] L. Sp. PI. 119. 1753. 



Annual glabrous or glabrate herbs, mostly with 4-angled stems, opposite 

 sessile narrow leaves, and small axillary flowers. Calyx campanulate, globose 

 or ovoid, 4-angled, 4-toothed, often with small accessory teeth in the sinuses. 

 Petals 4, deciduous or none. Stamens 4-8, inserted on the calyx-tube. Ovary 

 nearly globular, 2-4-celled. Capsule bursting irregularly. [Named for Johann 

 Ammann, 1699-1741, a German botanist.] About 20 species, of wide distri- 

 bution. Type species: Ammannia latifolia L. 



