MELASTOMACEJE. (MELASTOMA FAMILY.) 131 
dense and many-flowered; stamens very short. Var. 5. oligocarpa: 
the most distinct of all, a shrub, growing in deep mountain swamps, 
with thin narrowly oval or oblong leaves, nearly smooth from the 
first, 2-4-flowered racemes, and broader petals scarcely thrice the 
length of the calyx. — River-banks, rocks, and low grounds. April, 
May. 
Cydonia vulgAris, the Quince, differs from the rest of the fam¬ 
ily in having several seeds in each carpel. 
Calycanthus, the Carolina Allspice, common in cultivation, 
represents a family near Rosaceae, with fruit much like a rose-hip, 
although dry, but with opposite leaves, and coiled cotyledons. 
Order 39. MELASTOMACEJE. (Melastoma Fam.) 
Myrtle-like plants , with opposite ribbed leaves , and an¬ 
thers opening by pores at the apex; otherwise much as in 
the Evening Primrose Family.—All tropical, except the 
genus 
1. RHEXIA, L. Deer-Grass. Meadow Beauty. 
Calyx-tube um-shaped, coherent with the ovary below, at least 
at its angles, and continued above it, persistent, 4-cleft at the 
apex. Petals 4, convolute in the bud, oblique, inserted, along with 
the 8 stamens, on the summit of the calyx-tube. Anthers long, 
curved, 1-celled, mostly with a little spur on the back just at the 
attachment of the filament near the base, inverted in the bud. 
Style 1 : stigma 1. Pod invested by the permanent calyx, 4- 
celled, with 4 many-seeded placentae projecting from the central 
axis. Seeds coiled like a snail-shell, without albumen. — Low 
perennial herbs, often bristly, with sessile 3 -5-nerved and bristle- 
edged leaves, and showy cymose flowers ; the petals falling early. 
(Name from prj£is, a I'upture , applied to this genus for no obvious 
reason.) 
1. R. Virgin! C a, L. Stem square, with wing-like angles; 
leaves oval-lanceolate, acute ; petals bright purple. — Sandy swamps, 
Massachusetts southward, along the coast. July.—Flowers IV broad. 
2. R. Mariana, L. Stem cylindrical; leaves linear-oblong, 
narrowed towards the base ; petals pale purple. — Sandy swamps, 
N. Jersey southward. 
