Petersia.] lvi. myrtace^e (lawson). 439 



tals 4, adnate at the base to the staminal ring. Stamens in an indefi- 

 nite number of rows, cohering at the base forming a ring ; anther- 

 cells diverging. Ovary 2-celled; ovules indefinite. Fruit fibrous, 

 including the wings broadly obcordate ; wings 4, broad, membranous ; 

 1 -seeded. — Leaves alternate, with pellucid dots. Flowers small in 

 short dense racemes, which are solitary in the axils of the upper leaves 

 or dispersed in a corymb. 



1. P. africana, Welw. I. c. Leaves obovate from a narrowed base, 

 shortly petiolate, shortly acuminate, membranous. Fruit broadly ob- 

 cordate, pedicellate, 2\ in. long, 2 in. broad, beautifully fibrous* 



Lower Guinea. Angola, Dr. Welwitsch! 

 The only species of the genus. 



4. NAPOLEONA, Beauv. ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant, i. 723. 



Calyx-tube turbinate ; limb valvate,, 5-fid. Petals, staminodia, and 

 stamens in 4 concentric rows, and more or less adnate at the base : 

 those of the exterior row, or petals, connate, forming an orbicular peta- 

 loid membrane, with 20-40 folds ; those of the second row numerous, 

 free or nearly so, narrowly ligulate and antherless ; those of the 

 third row connate more than the lower half and forming a cup 20-40- 

 lobed, lobes inilexed, antherless ; those of the inner row connate at the 

 base both with each other and the neighbouring row, the free por- 

 tions broadly ligulate, mostly bearing anthers ; anthers oblong, 

 adnate, 1-celled. Ovary 5-celled ; style short, expanded into a very 

 broad peltate disk. Fruit fleshy, globose. Seeds few. — Tree with al- 

 ternate leaves and solitary axillary flowers. 



1. N. imperialis, Beauv. Fl. Owar. ii. 29, t. 78. Tree. Leaves 

 alternate, ovate or oblong, 4-18 in. long, glabrous, not dotted. 

 Flowers red white or blue, solitary in the axils of the leaves; bracts 

 scaly, imbricated on the very short pedicel. — DC. Prod. vii. 550. N. 

 Vogelii, Hook, et Planch, in Fl. Nigrit. 360, t. 49, 50. N. Heudelotii, 

 Juss. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 3, ii. 227, t. 4. N. Whitfieldii, Decaisne in 

 Rev. Hort. 1853, 301, t. 16. 



Upper Guinea. Fernando Po, Mann ! Senegambia, Heudelot ! Sierra Leone, 

 Miss Whitfield! Old Calabar, Mann! 

 For remarks on structure of flower, see Dr. Masters in Journ. Linn. Soc. x. 492. 



Order LVII. MELASTOMACEiE. (By Dr. Hooker.) 



Flowers regular, hermaphrodite. Calyx-tube free, or more or less 

 adnate to the ovary ; limb various, truncate lobed calyptriform or of 

 deciduous segments, imbricate, rarely valvate in bud. Petals inserted 

 in the mouth of the calyx and equalling its lobes in number, imbricate 

 in bud. Stamens usually twice as many as the petals, regular in- 

 clined or decimate, equal or the alternate smaller or rudimentary j 

 filaments inflexed" in aestivation j anthers 2-celled, usually bursting by 



