MELASTOMAC.EE. (jttELASTOMA FAMILY.) 127 



Order 41, MELAST031ACE/E. (Melastoma Family.) 



Myrtle-like plants, with opposite ribbed leaves, and anthers 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-Beaoty. 



Calyx-tube urn-shaped, coherent with the ovary below, and continued above 

 it, persistent, 4-cleft at the apex. Petals 4, convolute in the bud, oblique, in- 

 serted, along with the 8 stamens, on the summit of the calyx-tube. Anthers 

 long, 1-cclled, inverted in tiie 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 large 

 showy cymose flowers ; the petals falling early. (Name from p^tj, a rupture. 

 applied to this genus for no obvious reason.) 



* Anthers linear, curved, with a minute spur on the back at the attachment of the 

 filament abort it* bast : flowers cymose, peduncled. 



1. B. Virgiaica, L. Stein square, with wing-like angles; Imves oval- 

 lanceolate, ac u te : petals bright purple. — Sandy swamps, Massachusetts along 

 the coast, to Virginia, Illinois, and southward. July. 



2. B. Mariana, L. Stems cylindrical ; leaves linear-oblong, narrowed 

 below; petals paler. — Sandy swamps, N. Jersey, Kentucky, and southward. 



* * Anthers oblong, straight, without any spur; flowers few, sessile. 



3. B. Ciliosa, Michx. Stem square, glabrous ; leaves broadly ovate, 



ciliate with long bristles; calyx glabrous. — Maryland and southward. 



Order 42. LYTHRACEiE. (Loosestrife Family.) 



Herbs, with mostly opposite entire leaves, no stipules, the calyx enclosing, 

 but free from, the 1 -i-celled many-seeded ovary and membranous pod, and 

 bearing the 4-7 deciduous petals and 4-14 stamens on its throat; the latter 

 lower down. Style 1 : stigma capitate, or rarely 2-lobed. — Flowers axillary 

 or whorled, rarely irregular. Petals sometimes wanting. Pod often 1- 

 celled by the early breaking away of the thin partitions : placenta in the 

 axis. Seeds anatropous, without albumen. — Branches usually 4-sided. 



Synopsis. 



* Flowers regular, or very nearly so. 



1. AMMANNIA Calyx short, 4-angled, not striate. Fetals 4, or none. Stamens 4. 



2. LYTHRUM. Calyx tubular-cylindrical, striate. Petals 4 -7. Stamens 5-14. 



3. NF.S2EA. Calyx short-cainpanulate. Stamens 10 - 14, exserted, mostly unequal. 



* * Flowers irregular : petals unequal. 



4. CTJPHEA. Calyx spurred or enlarged on one side at the base. Stamens 12. 



See addend 



