Melasioma.] 



LIX. MELASTOMACE^. 



763 



2. MELASTOMA, Linn. 



Shrubs scaly or strigose. Leaves oblong or lanceolate. 

 Flowers terminal, solitary or clustered, rose or white, 5-merous. 

 Calyx-tube ovoid campanulate, strigose or hairy, lobes deciduous. 

 Stamens twice as many as petals very dissimilar (except M. muticum) 

 longer ones, anthers purple, connective long, produced at base, 

 bilobed, shorter ones alternate, yellow, connective not produced, 

 2-tubercled in front. Ovary bristly at top. Fruit baccate, pulpy, 

 dehiscing transversely or (rarely) vertically. Seed minute in black, 

 sweet pulp. Species 40, Asia, Australasia. 



Stamens of 2 unequal series. 



Stems covered with long black hairs ; leaves 

 glabrous. 

 Flowers large, white or rose ; fruit dehiscing 

 irregularly ..... 



Flowers large white or rose; fruit dehiscing 

 longitudinally ..... 



Stems and leaves densely soft, hairy 

 Stems and calyx scaly ; leaves hairy beneath ; 

 flowers 2 in. across. 

 Bracts large, oblong; calyx scaly 

 Bracts large oblong ; calyx hairy 

 Bracts small linear or o. 



Leaves narrov/ lanceolate 2 in. long; 

 scales short, ovate ..... 



Leaves lanceolate 3 in. long; calyx 

 densely covered with linear acuminate 

 scales ...... 



Leaves ovate or oblong, 4 to 6 in. long 

 Leaves and stem hairless; flowers 3 in. 

 across ...... 



Stamens all similar ..... 



(i) M. decemfidum 



(2) M, schizocarpa 



(3) M. moUe 



(4) M. malabathricum 



(5) M. perakense 



(6) M. polyanthum 



(7) M. normale 



(8) M. imbricatum 



(9) M. scabrum 

 (10) M. muticum 



(i) M. decemfidum Roxb. Hort. Beng. 90; King, I.e. 4. M. 

 sanguineum Sims, Bot. Mag. t. 2241 ; Clarke, in Hook. fil. F.B.I. 

 ii. 524. 



Large lax shrub about 6 ft. tall. Branchlets and petioles 

 covered with stiff bristles. Leaves lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 

 3- to 5-nerved, glabrous except for a few scattered hairs above, 

 2*5 to 5 in. long, -6 to i-8 in. wide; petioles -25 to -5 in. long. 

 Flowers solitary or 2 to 3 together, 2 to 3 in. across. Calyx-tube 

 •25 to '5 in. long, densely clothed with long stiff pink hairs ; teeth 

 linear acuminate, about half as long as the globose urceolate tube. 

 Petals 1*5 in. long, broadly obovate, pale rose. Stamens shorter. 

 Hah. Mountain woods from about 1200 ft. altitude upwards, com- 

 mon. Malacca, Mt. Ophir. Pahang, Tahan River. Perak 

 (Kunstler). Selangor, Ginting Sempah. Penang Hill (Curtis); 

 Telok Bahang (Foxworthy). Kedah Peak. Distrib. Burma, 

 Cochin-China. 



