442 lvii. MELASTOMACEiE (hooker). [Osbeckia. 



nerved, entire or serrulate. Flowers capitate panicled or sub-racemose, 

 rose-coloured or purple. 



A very large Tropical Asiatic genus, closely allied to Dissotis, and only distinguish- 

 able by the structure of the anthers. 

 Leaves ovate, petioled. Anthers minute. 



Fruiting calyx with a long cylindric top 1.0. tubulosa. 



Fruitiug calyx with a short top 2. 0. multiflora. 



Leaves oblong-lanceolate, subsessile. Anthers large .... 3. 0. senegambiensis. 



1. O. multiflora, Sm.inRees Cycl. xxv. Stem 4 ft., shrubby below, 

 branched, leafy ; branches slender, 4-angled, strigose ; nodes obscurely 

 bristly. Leaves 2 J-4 in. by f -1 J in., rather membranous, ovate or ovate- 

 lanceolate, acuminate, obscurely serrulate, 5-nerved, base rounded or 

 subcordate, dark green and scabrid above, with short appressed bristles, 

 pale green and substrigose below, especially on the nerves ; petiole 

 J-J in. Flowers 5-merous, small, \ in. in diameter, pale rose-coloured, 

 in very short terminal panicled racemes that form hispid balls in flower 

 but lengthen in fruit ; bracts green, shorter than the calyx, ovate-lan- 

 ceolate, ciliate. Calyx-tube turgid, £• in., densely bristly and clothed 

 above with scales, crowned by stellately and palmately arranged 

 bristles ; lobes small, subulate, tipped with stellate bristles, very de- 

 ciduous. Petals small, \ in. long, obovate, tip ciliate. Anthers all 

 equal and similar, \ in., about equalling the slender filament; connec- 

 tive very shortly produced, and 2-tubercled in front. Style slender, 

 stigma capitellate. Capsule globose, sunk in the shortly urceolate, 

 hispid, ribbed calyx-tube, which is J in. long, 5-valved and hispid at 

 the top.— DC. Prod. iii. 143 ; Benth. in Fl. Nigr. 347. Melastomu 

 Afzelianum, Don in Trans. Wern. Soc. iv. 291 ; DC. Prod. iii. 147. 



Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone, Afzelius ! Don I Onitsha, Barter ! 



2. O. tubulosa, Sm. in Bees Cycl. xxv. Annual. Stem erect, 1-3 ft., 

 sparingly branched and leafy, weak, acutely 4-angled, with a row of 

 appressed bristles at the angles, and long erect ones at the nodes ; 

 branches setose. Leaves distant, 1 J-3^ in. by 1-2 in., membranous, ovate, 

 acute, 5-nerved, margins cartilaginous, obscurely waved or crenate, 

 substrigosely hairy on both surfaces ; petiole J-J in., hispid. Flowers 

 sessile, 5-merous, solitary or in terminal, interrupted, unilateral cymes ; 

 bracts 2, much shorter than the calyx, ovate, membranous, ciliate, very 

 deciduous. Calyx-tube \ in., urceolate, ventricose below, scabrid and 

 covered with persistent scales crowned by stellately arranged bristles ; 

 upper part tubular with deciduous bristle-crowned scales ; lobes 5, 

 shorter than the tubular portion, ovate or subulate, acuminate, ciliate 

 and bristle-pointed, very early deciduous. Petals small, ^V in., obovate, 

 purple? Anthers minute, T Vm., all equal; connective" very shortly 

 produced, very minutely tubercled in front, filaments -rVin., slender. 

 Style filiform, stigma capitellate. Capsule adherent to the turgid part 

 of the calyx-tube, its free top crowned with a pencil of white hairs, 

 4-valved.— DC. Prod. iii. 143; Benth. in Fl. Nigr. 345. 



Upper Guinea. Sierra Leone, Afzelius I Bon I Vogel I Barter I Fl. May. 



