476 MELASTOMACEiE. Rhexia. 



when propagated by cuttings. They are said seldom to ripen their fruit in 

 their native situations. 



,J«e^ 2. C. occidentalis (Hook. & Am.) : leaves ovate-lanceolate, somewhat 

 cordate at the base, acuminate, rigid, scabrous, glabrous and shining, and of 

 the same color on both sides ; peduncles elongated. — Hook. Sf Am. ! hot. 

 Beechey, suppl. i^. 340, t. 84. 



California, Douglas ! (v. sp. in herb. HooJc.) — Leaves about 6 inches long 

 and 2 in width. Peduncles terminal, or from the forks of the branches, 

 2-3 inches in length when the flower is expanded. 



t Order (LI.) MYRTACE^. Juss. 



We have received from Southern Florida very imperfect specimens of two or 

 three Myrtaccous plants, probably species of Eugenia ; but have not sufficient 

 materials for their identification. 



Order LII. MELASTOMACE^. Jiiss. 



Sepals combined into a 4-6-Iob3d persistent calyx ; the tube uri. 

 ceolate, cohering more or less with the angles of the ovary. 

 Petals equal in number with the lobes of the calyx and alternate 

 with them, inserted on its throat : sestivation twisted. Stamens as 

 many as the petals and alternate with them, or more commonly 

 twice as many, those opposite the petals often differently shaped 

 and sterile : filaments inflexcd in aestivation : anthers adnate or 

 fixed by the base, introrse, l-2.celled, often appendiculate, usually 

 opening by one or two terminal pores ; before flowering contained 

 in the tubular interstices formed by the cohesion of the ovary with 

 the nerves of the calyx. Ovary 3-6-cellcd, with the placentas in 

 the axis, large and thick : ovules indefinite : style 1 : stigma capi- 

 late or minute. Fruit capsular and then at length nearly free from 

 the persistent tube of the calyx, the dehiscence loculicidatf or bac- 

 cate and wholly coherent with the calyx, 3-6-celled. Seeds very 

 numerous, minute, anatropous, often curved or cochleate, destitute 

 of albumen : testa brittle. Embryo conformed to the shape of the 

 seed : cotyledons equal or unequal. — Herbs, trees, or shrubs (all 

 tropical except Rhexia), with opposite mostly entire 3-9-ribbed 

 leaves, not dotted. Stipules none. Flowers terminal, solitary or 

 cymose. 



1. RHEXIA. Linn. ; R. Br. in Tuckey's voy. (1818) p. 436. 



Tube of the calyx ventricose at the base, narrowed above the ovary ; the 

 limb 4-cleft, persistent. Petals 4, obovate or roundish. Anthers 8, uniform, 



