Dr. Jack on the Malayan Species of Melastoma. 7 



A shrub with long slender tomentose branches. Pubescence stel- 

 late. Leaves opposite, petiolate, oblong-ovate, elongated 

 to the point and acuminate, rounded or cordate at the 

 base, three or four inches long, three-nerved, entire, smooth 

 above, ferruginously tomentose beneath. Petioles short, 

 ferruginous. Peduncles axillary, three- sometimes one- 

 flowered, and more rarely paniculately five-flowered. Pe- 

 dicels long, four-sided, tomentose, thickened at the joints 

 and below the flowers. Bracts leaf-like, at the divisions of 

 the peduncle, opposite. Calyx oblong, somewhat tubular, 

 tomentose, and furnished besides with long erect spinous 

 bristles, with stellate points ; i. e. whose points are armed 

 with a radiated fascicle of diverging setae ; limb four-parted ; 

 segments oblong, ciliate. Corolla four-petalled, spreading ; 

 petals somewhat acute. Stamina eight, unequal ; four long, 

 with pedicellate anthers and filaments furnished with a 

 fascicle of hairs at the apex ; four short, with sessile an- 

 thers and bisetous filaments ; all the anthers arcuate, and 

 opening by pores at the top. Ovary oblong, in the bottom 

 of the calyx, and attached to it by eight septa forming an 

 equal number of cells, in which the points of the anthers 

 are lodged before the expansion of the flower, four-celled, 

 polysporous ; ovula attached to central placentae. Style 

 declinate, thickened at the base, as long as the stamina. 

 Berry contained in the persistent calyx, to which it becomes 

 adnate, ovate, four-celled, many-seeded. 

 Obs. The peculiarity of the bristles of the calyx having stellate 

 H points, at once distinguishes this species from all the rest. 

 Besides these bristles the calyx is covered with a short fer- 

 ruginous wool, and the segments appear to be persistent. 

 It was sent to me from Saloomah, and is by no means a 

 common species. 



6. Melastoma 



