15^ MELASTOMACE^. 



Quite common in long grass, near sholas ; flowering when 

 the first rains begin. Pulneys : on the downs near Kodaika- 

 nal, Nilgiris : Ootacamund downs. Fyson 536, 1128, 2168. 

 Bourne 23, 67. 



Gen. Dist. Mountains of South India and Ceylon, 



Osbcckia wightiana Benth. ; F.B.L ii 519, I 17; 

 distinguished by its silky leaves, white on the under 

 side ; calyx shaggy with simple hairs not stalked comb- 

 bristles and handsome flowers. 



A well branched shrub 4 to 8 feet high ; younger 

 branches rough with short stiff hairs or their semi- 

 persistent bases ; youngest very hairy. Leaves ovate- 

 oblong, 2 by % inch (l^ to 3 by ^ to 1% inches), closely 

 covered with short silky hairs. Flowers one to five 

 clustered, nearly sessile: bracts ^ by J4 inch, ovate-acute, 

 silky. Calyx-tube J^ inch, covered thickly with straight 

 hairs ^ inch long, and in the upper part from stalked 

 scales. Corolla l^ to 2 inches, purple, handsome. 

 Anthers J^ inch. Style I inch, prominently curved, and 

 thickened at the stigma. Fruits in short racemes, mar- 

 ginal teeth strongly ciliated, t. 114. Wight Ic. t. 998. 



Pulneys : on the Kodaikanal downs and down to 4,000 

 feet at Poombari. Nilgiris : Kotagiri and below. Fyson 1770. 

 Bourne 56, 288, 860. * 



Gen. Dist. South India and Ceylon. 



The plant is very hardy, growing to 8 feet on what appears to be 

 almost bare rock. 



Osbcckia leschcnaultiana DC, ; F.B.L ii 520, I 18 ; 

 Red Osbeckia ; distinguished from the other purple 

 flowered species by its smaller habit and narrower 

 leaves. 



Branchlets square ; older roundish, with two opposite 

 pairs of ridges decurrent from the leaves ; covered with 

 spreading hairs. Leaves sessile, % to l% by % to 5^ 

 inch, ovate, narrow or broad, acute, sparsely hairy 

 on both sides, but more so on the nerves of the lower 



