4 Materials for a Flora of the Malayan Peninsula. 



Andaman Islands; common, King's Collectors. Distrib. Celebes. 



2. Otanthera nicobarensis, Teysm. et Binn. PI. Nov. Hort. Bogor. 

 29. Leaves lanceolate or oblong-ovate, acuminate, upper surface sparsely 

 strigose, the nerves glabrous ; lowsr glabrous except the strigose nerves ; 

 length 3 to 46 in., breadth 1-25 to 2 in., petioles '5 to 1 in. Calyx-tuhe 

 quite glabrous ; the teeth sub-ciliate. C. B. Clarke in Hook. fil. Fl. Br. 

 Ind. II, 622 ; Kurz, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 1876, pt. II, 131 ; Cogn. in 

 DC. Mon. Phan. VII, 342. 



NicoBAR Islands ; Novara Expedition. 

 This has been collected only by the botanists of the Austrian expedition. 

 It is the only species of the genus with a glabrous calyx. 



2. Melastoma, Linn. 



Scaly, strigose or villous shrubs. Leaves petioled, oblong or lanceo- 

 late, entire, 3-7-nerved. Flowers terminal, solitary, clustered or panicled, 

 rose or purple, 6- (rarely 6-7-) merous. Oalyx-tuhe ovoid or campanu- 

 late, with simple (rarely with penicillate) hairs, lobes deciduous. Petals 

 equal iu number to the calyx-lobes. Stamens twice as many as the 

 petals, very unequal, alternate longer ones with purple anthers having 

 the connective long-produced at the base and terminating in two lobes, the 

 shorter ones having yellow anthers, the connective not produced but 

 with two tubercles in front. Ovary ovoid, more or less united to the 

 calyx-tube, 5- (rarely 6-7-) celled, apex bearing bristles; style filiform, 

 simple ; ovules very numerous, placentas axile. Fruit berried, succulent 

 or coriaceous, enveloped in the calyx-tube, bursting irregularly. Seeds 

 minute, very many, curved through half a circle, minutely punctate. — 

 Distrib. Species 40 ; Asia, North Australia and Polynesia. 

 Calyx-tube densely covered with long, flexuose, spreading, 

 shining, coloured bristly hairs •25 to '5 in. long ; young 

 branches, petioles, and pedicels with stiff spreading 

 bristles ; flowers 2 to 3 in. in diam. ... .. 1. M. decemfidum. 



Calyx-tube, young branches, petioles and pedicels with 

 adpressed, lanceolate acuminate, serrulate scales : cymes 

 condensed, flowers 1"25 in. across ... ... 2 . M. imhrxQatum, 



Calyx-tube densely clothed with linear acuminate, entire 

 or serrate scales, those of the young branches, petioles 

 and pedicels shorter and broader ; corymbs with 

 deciduous (often large) bracts ; flowers 2 to 3 in. across 

 (only 1-25 in var. ppra^e»sts) ... ... ... 3. M. malabothricum. 



1. Melastoma decemfidum, Roxb. Hort. Beng. 90 ; Fl. Ind. II, 

 406. A shrub, 6 to 10 feet high ; young branches at the nodes and 

 near the tips, petioles and pedicels with numerous stiff, spreading 

 bristles. Leaves narrowly-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, 

 3- to 6-nerved ; the upper surface smooth except for a few scattered 

 412 



