112 lythrakieje. [Jmmannia. 



diffuse, and often rooting at the base ; the flowering stems ascending to the 

 height of 4 to 6 in. or seldom more. Leaves almost sessile, orbicular, obo- 

 vate, or broadly oblong, usually 3 or* 4 lines long. Flowers not above a line 

 long, nearly sessile and single in the axils of bracts or floral leaves about as 

 long as themselves, forming 1 or 3 terminal spikes of £ to 1 in. long. Calyx- 

 teeth 4, without any accessory ones. Petals 4, small, purple. Stamens 4. — 

 Ameletia rotundifolia, Wight, Ic. i. t. 458. Ammannia {Ameletia') subspicaia, 

 Benth. in Lond. Journ. Bot. i. 484, and in Kew Journ. Bot. iv. 81. 



Common in ditches and marshy places, Champion and others. Extends over India from 

 the Peninsula to Burmah, and northward to the Himalaya and S. China. The first Hong- 

 kong specimens I received had remarkably narrow leaves and some apparent differences in 

 inflorescence from the Indian type then known to me, and I was induced to describe it as a 

 distinct species ; but I now find that in China as in India the two extremes are so intimately 

 connected as to be inseparable even as marked varieties. 



2. LAGERSTRCEMIA, Linn. 



Calyx campanulate ; the limb 4- to 9 -toothed or -lobed, with the addition 

 occasionally of small intermediate teeth. Petals as many, with distinct claws. 

 Stamens indefinite, inserted near the base of the calyx-tube. Ovary 3- to 

 6 -celled. Style filiform, with a capitate stigma. Capsule surrounded by the 

 persistent calyx, opening loculicidally in 3 to 6 valves, each valve bearing the 

 partition in its centre. Seeds terminating in a wing. — Trees or shrubs. Leaves 

 opposite. Flowers showy, usually in terminal panicles. 



A genus of few species, confined to tropical or subtropical Asia. 

 1. L. indica, Linn.; DC. Prod. iii. 93 ; Bot. Mag. t. 405 ; Wight, Illustr. 

 t. 86 (88). A tall shrub, glabrous or nearly so ; the young shoots slightly 4- 

 angled. Leaves on very short petioles, orbicular, obovate, or broadly oblong, 

 1 to 2 in. long ; the pinnate veins rather prominent and sometimes slightly 

 pubescent underneath. Flowers of a reddish-purple, in handsome terminal 

 ovate or oblong panicles of about half a foot in length. Calyx about 3 or Sp- 

 lines long ; the tube not furrowed, as in some other species, with ovate lobes. 

 Petals 6, orbicular, crisped at the edge, on slender claws much longer than 

 the calyx-lobes. Stamens indefinite, the 6 outer ones much larger than the 

 others. Capsule nearly globular, 5 or 6 lines diameter, projecting consider- 

 ably beyond the calyx. 



Near the Buddhist Temple, really wild, Champion. Extends from Cochin China to Japan, 

 and is much cultivated for ornament all over the East and occasionally in southern Europe. 



Order XLI. MELASTOMACE^). # 



Calyx-tube enclosing the ovary and usually cohering with its angles, leaving 

 intermediate cavities, or sometimes entirely free or adherent ; the limb entire, 

 or with as many teeth or lobes as petals. Petals usually 4 or 5, sometimes 

 3 or 6 or more inserted intermediately below the calyx-teeth, twisted in the 

 bud. Stamens usually twice as many, sometimes only as many, and inserted 

 with the petals, the filaments curved down in the bud ; the anthers 2 -eel led, 

 opening at the top in 1 or 2 pores, and before flowering their tips are con- 

 tained in the cavities between the calyx and ovary. Ovary with 2 to 6, or 



