132 MELASTOMACE.E. (MELASTOMA FAMILY.) 



cohering with the ovary below, or with its angles. Petals 4-6, twisted in 

 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 

 8-6-celled. Ovules numerous, attached to the central placentas. Style 

 solitary. Fruit baccate and indehiscent, or capsular and loculicidally de- 

 hiscent. Seeds anatropous, without albumen. 



1. RHEXIA, L. Deer-Gkass. 



Calyx-tube prolonged and narrowed above the ovary, 4-cleft. Petals 4, round- 

 ish, deciduous. Stamens 8. Anthers 1 -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 insertion of the filaments : flowers purj>le or 

 whitish. 



1. R. Mariana, L. Bristly; stem branched, terete or 6-angled ; 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 

 purulc. — Varies with narrower, often linear leaves, and smaller whitish flowers. 

 (R. lanceolate, Walt.) — Swamps, Florida to Mississippi, and northward. July 

 -Sept. — Stem l°-2° high. Leaves 3-ribbed. Flowers lJ'.-S* wide, hairy 

 externally. 



2. R. Virginica, L. Bristly ; stem 4-anglcd, nearly simple ; leaves ovate 

 and ovate-lanceolate, barely acute, sessile, bristly serrate, the lowest rounded ; 

 neck of the bristly fruiting calyx 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 tell, smooth, 4-winged, bearded at the joints; 

 leaves lanceolate and ovate-lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 5-ribbed, bristlj ser- 

 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 ribs obscure. 

 Flowers purple. 



4 R. glabella, Michx. Stem terete, smooth, mostly simple ; leaves 

 lanceolate, Bessile, entire or Blightly serrulate, thick, smooth and glaucous ; carj s 

 Bmooth or bristly; (lowers large, bright purple. — bow pine barrens, Florida to 

 North Carolina, and west to Mississippi. June-August. — Root spongy. Stem 

 2° -3° high. Leaves Bweetish. 



* * Anthers short, oblong, erect, not appendaged s neck of the calyx short, 

 -t- Flowers purple: leaves small, ovate or roundish, bristly serrulate'. 



v R. ciliosa, Michx. Stem simple, smooth, 4-angled above ; leaves bristly 

 on tiii' upper surface, 8-ribbed; cyme few-flowered, leafy; calyx smooth. - 

 Bog hi the pine barrens, Florida to Mississippi, and northward. July and 



