500 LTII. MKr.VSTOMACE.'E. 



subcapitate (sometimes rather laxly arranged), often with 2 or 4 leaves 

 under the head ; bracts Jjj in. long, ovate, acute, ciliate on the margins 

 and with a long bristle-point at the apex, glabrous on the back. Calyx 

 ^-^ in. long, densely clothed with stalked stellate long hairs; tube 

 campanulate ; teeth ^-l in. long, Irian^nilar, ciliate and with a tuft of 

 long bristles from the enlarged glandular apex ; intermediate teeth J^ in. 

 long, with a tuft of bristles from tiie enlarged glandular apex. Petals 

 i-| in. long, purple or sometimes white. Fruit ovoid-oblong, sometimes 

 obscurely many-ribbed. Fl. B. I. v. 2, p. 5U ; Cogniaux, in UC. Monogr. 

 Phan. V. 7, p. .328. Oshedia vinjata?, Grrali. Cat. p. 7L (not of Wiglit & 

 Arn.). OshecHa Leschenaultlana, Wight, Icon. t. U90 (not of D.C.). 



KoNKAN : SfocAs ex Cof/niaux (I. c). 



Tlic occurrence of this plant witliin tlie limits of tlte Bombay Presideney is aomo- 

 wliiit doubtful. Cogniaux cites Stocks as an authority for its occurrence in the 

 Konkan, but there is no specimen from Stocks in Herb. Kew. Graham inehides in 

 liis Cataloiiue a j)lant which he calls 0. viryata, W. & A.., the habitat of which is given 

 as S. Konkan on tlie authority of Nimmo, which may possibly be this plant. — Distiub. 

 India (W. Peninsula). 



2. MELASTOMA, Linn. 



Shrubs, usually erect and strigo=e-hairy. Leaves petiolate, oblong or 

 lanceolate, usually coriaceous and quite entire, 3-7-nerved. Flowers 

 terminal, solitary, fascicidate or pauicled, showy, purple, usually 5-merous. 

 Calyx-tube strigose, setose or paleaceous, ovoid or campanulate ; lobes 

 deciduous, ovate or lanceolate, usually about as long as the tube and 

 alternating with subulate teeth. Petals equal in number to the calyx- 

 lobes, sometimes pilose on the back. Stamens twice as many as the 

 petals, unequal ; those opposite the calyx-lobes longer and with piu'ple 

 anthers, the connective produced below the cells and ending in 2 

 blunt lobes ; those opposite the petals with yellow anthers, the 

 connective not or scarcely produced and ending in 2 blunt tubercles. 

 Ovary ovoid, more or less adnate to the calvx-tube, usually 5-celled, 

 bristly on the apex; ovules numerous; style filiform; stigma obtuse. 

 Berry coriaceous or fleshy, irregularly dehiscent, enclosed in the 

 persistent calyx-tube. Seeds miuute, numerous, cochleate. — Distrib. 

 Tropical and East Asia, N. Austraha, and Polynesia; species about 40. 



1. Melastoma malabathricum, Linn. Sp. PL (1753) p. 390. A 

 much-branched shrub sometimes reaching 8 ft. high. Young branches, 

 ])etiole9, and nerves of the leaves beneath densely clothed with appressed 

 flat lanceolate acuminate paleaceous hairs. Leaves somewhat rigid, 

 2-4| by g-l| in., ovate-oblong or laneeohite-oblong, acute, strigose 

 above with appressed thick hairs, softly hairy between the nerves 

 beneath, 5-nerved, the outer nerves fine and close to the margin, base 

 usually rounded; petioles g-^ in. long. Flowers in terminal corymbose 

 1-5-flowered panicles ; pedicels about as long as the calyx-tube ; bracts 

 \-^ in. long, oblong-lanceolate, shortly stalked, clothed on the back 

 with scaly hairs. Calyx clothed all over with silvery lanceolate 

 scaly hairs ; tube broadly campanulate ; lobes ^ in. long, lanceolate, 

 acute, deciduous ; intermediate teeth J in. long, subulate, bristle-pointed. 

 Petals |-1 in. long, obovate, rounded or truncate at the apex, narrowed 

 at the base. Filanients yel!o\^. Antl.ers alternately yellow and red. 

 Ovary crowned at top with luiiutrous silvery lanceolate hairs about 



