MELASTOMACEiE. (mELASTOMA FAMILY.) 188 



obtusely angled, witli a small groove between them ; stigmas as long as the 

 fruit, erect, persistent; floating leaves crowded in a tuft, broadly spatulate, 

 often retuse, abruptly narrowed into a long petiole. — Stagnant water, Mass. 

 and N. J. to S. lud. and Mo. 



* * * Submersed perennial, icitli numerous uniform linear \-nerved leaves; flow- 



ers icithout bracts ; carpels separate nearli/ to the axis. 



4. C. autumnalis, L. Stems 3-6' high; fruit large (1" wide or more), 

 flattened, circular, deeply and narrowly notched, sessile or nearly so, its lobes 

 broadly winged, and with a very deep and narrow groove between them ; 

 stigmas very long, reflexed, deciduous ; leaves all linear from a broader base, 

 retuse or notched at the tip (2-6" long). — W. Mass., Lake Champlaiu and 

 N. New York, Lake Superior, and westward. (Eu.) 



Order 40. MELASTOMACE^S:. (Melastoma Family.) 



Plants with opposite 3 - 1-ribhed leaves, and dejinite stamens, the anthers 

 opening by pores at the apex ; otherwise much as in the Onagraceae. — All 

 tropical, except the genus 



1. R H E X I A, L. Deer-Grass. Meadow-Beauty. 



Calyx-tube urn-shaped, coherent with the ovary below, and continued above 

 it, persistent, 4-cleft at the apex. Petals 4, convolute in the bud, oblique, in- 

 serted along with the 8 stamens on the summit of the calyx-tube. Anthers 

 long, 1 -celled, inverted in the bud. Style 1 ; stigma \. Capsule invested by 

 the permanent calyx, 4-celled, with 4 many-seeded placenta projecting from 

 the central axis. Seeds coiled like a snail-shell, without albumen. — Low per- 

 ennial herbs, often bristly, with mostly sessile 3 - 5-nerved and bristly-edged 

 leaves, and large showy cymose flowers ; in summer ; the petals falling early. 

 (A name in Pliny for some unknoAvn plant, probably from pri^is, a crevice, from 

 the place of growth.) 



* Anthers linear, curved, ivith a minute spur on the back at the attachment of the 



filament above its base ; flowers cymose, peduncled. 



1. E. Virginica, L. Stem square, with wing-like angles; leaves oval- 

 lanceolate, sessile, acute ; calyx-tube and pedicels more or less hispid with gland- 

 tipped hairs; petals bright purple. — Sandy swamps ; coast of Maine to Fla., 

 Avest to northern X. Y., Ind., Mo., and La. Slender rootstocks tuberiferous. 



2. R. aristosa, Britt. Branches somewhat wing-angled ; leaves linear- 

 oblong, sessile, not narrowed at base, naked or very sparsely hairy ; hairs of 

 the calyx mostly below tlie throat, not gland-tipped ; petals sparsely villous, 

 bright purple. — Egg Harbor City, N.J. {J. E. Peters); also Sumter Co., 

 S. C. (J. D. Smith). 



3. R. Mariana, L. Stems cylindrical ; leaves linear-oblong, narrowed 

 below, mostly petiolate , petals paler. — Sandy SAvamps ; N. J. to Fla., west 

 to Mo. and La. 



* * Anthers oblong, straight, without any spur ; flowers few, sessile. 



4. R. ciliosa, Michx. Stem square, glabrous; leaves broadly ovate, 

 ciliate with long bristles ; calyx glabrous. — Md. to Fla. and La.> 



