Myrtales.] 



MELASTOMACEyE. 



'31 



Order CCLXXXI. MELASTOMACE^E.— Melastomads. 



MeLnstomae, Jm**. Gen. p. 328. (1789).— Melastomaceac, Don. in Mem. Wern. Soc. 4. 281. (1823) • DC 

 I'rodr. 3. 99. (182S) ; Memoire, (1828): Blume in Botanisch. Zeil. (1833); Endl. 6Vn. cclxviii — 

 Memecyleae, DC. Prod)-. 35. (1828); Opatowski Dissertatio.—yiemQcy\s.cex, Ed. Pr. xxvi.— Mouri- 

 riaceae, Gardn. in Hook. Joum. 2. 23.— IVIyrihineae or Oliniese, Arnolt in Ann. Nat. Hist. 3. 154. 



Diagnosis. — 3fi/rtal Exocjens, with a plurilocidar ovary, poJypctalous flmvcrs, an imhri- 

 cated calyx, definite stamens, rostrate anthers, and xisually dotless leaves. 



Fig. CCCGLXXXVll 



Trees, shrubs, or 

 herbaceous plants. 

 Leaves opposite, undi- 

 vided, usually entire, 

 without dots, and with several 

 ribs. Flowers terminal, usu- 

 ally thp'soid. Calyx divided 

 into 4, 5, or 6 lobes, coliering 

 more or less with the angles 

 of the ovary, but distinct from 

 the surface between the an- 

 gles, and thus forming a num- 

 ber of cavities, within which 

 the young anthers are curved 

 downwards. Petals e([ual to 

 the segments of the calyx ; 

 arising from their base, or 

 from the edge of a disk that 

 lines the calyx ; tested in 

 testivation. Stamens usually 

 twice as many as the petals, 

 sometimes e([ual to them in 

 number ; in the former case, 

 those which are ()pi)osite the 

 segments of the calyx are alone 

 fertile ; filaments curved 

 downwards in ivstivation ; an- 

 thers long, "2-celled, usually 

 bursting by two pores at the 

 apex, and lengthened in va- 



Fig. CCCCLXXXVIII.— 1. Medinilla macrocarpa, (Blumc) ; 2. stamens of M. radicans 

 dicular section of its ovary ; 4. a section of its seed ; 6. embryo. 



3. a perpen- 



