182 MELASTOMACEJE. (MELASTOMA FAMILY.) 
cohering with the ovary below, or with its angles. Petals 4— 6, twisted iu 
the bud, inserted with the 4 —12 stamens on the throat of the calyx. An- 
thers adnate, often appendaged, usually opening by terminal pores. Ovary 
3—6-celled. Ovules numerous, attached to the central placente. Style 
solitary. Fruit baccate and indehiscent, or capsular and loculicidally de- 
hiscent. Seeds anatropous, without albumen. 
1. RHEXIA, L. Deer-Grass. 
Calyx-tube prolonged and narrowed above the ovary, 4-cleft. Petals 4, round- 
ish, deciduous. Stamens 8. Anthers l-celled, opening by a terminal pore. 
Capsule 4-celled, many-seeded. — Perennial herbs. Leaves 3—5-ribbed. Flow- 
ers cymose, terminal. 
* Anthers long, linear, curving upward, saccate at the base, and commonly furnished 
with a bristle-like appendage at the ı insertion of the eh: flowers purple or 
whitish. 
. 1 R. Mariana, L. Bristly; stem brain, terete or eungled:; leaves 
lanceolate, acute, short-petioled, bristly serrate ; calyx mostly smooth, cylindri- 
cal in flower, the neck in fruit as long as the globose capsular portion ; flowers 
purple. — Varies with narrower, often linear leaves, and smaller whitish flowers. 
(R. lanceolata, Walt.) — Swamps, Florida to Mississippi, and northward. July 
-Sept.— Stem 19-29 high. Leaves 3-ribbed. Flowers 1j'—9/ wide, hairy 
externally. 
2. R. Virginica, L. Bristly.; stem 4-angled, nearly simple ; leaves ovate 
and ovate-lanceolate, barely acute, sessile, bristly serrate, the lowest rounded; 
neck of the bristly fruiting ealyx shorter than the capsular portion; the lobes 
ovate, acuminate.— Swamps, chiefly in the upper districts, Mississippi, and 
northward. July and August. — Stem 6'—12' high. Leaves 3 -5-ribbed. 
Flowers purple. 
3. R. stricta, Pursh. Stem tall, smooth, 4-winged, bearded at the joints; 
leaves lanceolate and ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 5-ribbed, bristly set- 
rate, sessile; cyme compound ; calyx smooth, urn-shaped, the lobes lanceolate. 
— Margins of ponds in the pine barrens. Florida, Georgia, and westward. July 
and August. — Stem 2°- 4? high. Leaves rugose, the lateral. ziba. abii 
Flowers purple. 
4. R. glabella, Michx. Stem terete, smooth, mostly simple; leaves 
-. lanceolate, sessile, entire or slightly serrulate, thick, smooth and glaucous ; calyx 
‘smooth or bristly; flowers large, bright purple. — Low pine barrens, Florida to 
North Carolina, and west to Mississippi. June - August. M spongy pes 
29-3? high. Leaves sweetish. 
LE Anthers short, oblong, erect, not appendaged : neck of the calyx short. Ri 
+ Flowers purple: leaves small, ovate or roundish, bristly serrulate, — 
5. R. e = Michx. paa smooth — yaya te i 
