114 MELASTOMACEiE. [Melastoma. 



branches more or less covered with adpressed scaly bristles. Leaves stalked, 

 varying from broadly heart-shaped and only 2 or 3 in. long, to nearly lanceo- 

 late and 5 in. long. Flowers large, usually 3 together, almost sessile at the 

 ends of the branches, sometimes solitary or 5 together, when expanded often 

 3 or 4 in. diameter. Calyx thickly covered with closely pressed chaffy bristles 

 or scales ; the lobes lanceolate, about the length of the tube, the accessory 

 teeth small and fine or none. Bracts at the base of the calyx varying from 

 ovate to lanceolate, shorter than the tube or as long as the whole calyx. 

 There are two rather marked varieties, viz. — 



a. Leaves sprinkled on the upper side with short hairs. — M. macrocarpum, Benth. in 

 Kew Journ. Bot. iv. 116, and Naud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. Par. ser. 3, xiii. 283. M. homo- 

 stegium, Naud. 1. c. p. 286. • 



b. Leaves thickly covered on hoth sides with appressed hairs or bristles, giving them a 

 silky appearance when young. — M. candidum, Don ; Benth. in Kew Journ. Bot. iv. 116. 

 M. calycinum, Benth. in Lond. Journ. Bot. i. 285. 



On hills, Champion and others. Also on the adjacent continent and in the Philippine 

 Islands (Cuming, n. 927) the two varieties are found together, and the extreme states ap- 

 pear very different in the clothing of the foliage ; but they are too much connected by inter- 

 mediate states to be retained as species. The figures usually quoted, Bot. Mag. t. 529, and 

 Bot. Reg. t. 672, are very unsatisfactory representations of this species. They are, how- 

 ever, most probably drawn from plants of East Indian origin, more nearly allied to the 

 M. malabathricum. 



3. M. decemfidum, Roxb. ; DC. Prod. iii. 146 ; Naud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. 

 ser. 3, xiii. 282. An erect shrub, the branches with a few scattered scales 

 and spreading bristles. Leaves like those of the last species, but narrower, 

 from ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, glabrous, or with a few short scattered 

 appressed hairs or bristles. Flowers large, solitary or 3 together, as in the 

 M. macrocarpum. Calyx-tube covered with long stiff bristles, spreading at 

 the base, and then turned upwards ; the lobes lanceolate-subulate, much shorter 

 than the tube, with accessory teeth nearly as large. — M. sanguineum, Linn. ; 

 Bot. Mag. t. 2241 ; DC. Prod. iii. 145 ; Naud. 1. c. 281. 



On hills, with the preceding, Champion and others. Extends over the Indian Archipelago 

 from Penang to Borneo. 



2. OSBECKIA, Linn. 



Calyx-tube ovoid ; the limb of 4 or 5 lobes or teeth, with appendages be- 

 tween them, which are usually bristle-like, and terminate in a tuft of hairs. 

 Petals as many, obovate. Stamens twice as many. Anthers opening in a single 

 pore, without any or scarcely any appendage to the base of the connective. 

 Ovary 4- or 5 -celled, crowned with bristles. Fruit capsular, opening at the 

 top in as many valves as there were cells to the ovary. Seeds cochleate. — 

 Herbs, or rarely shrubs. Flowers usually terminal, in clusters or short ra- 

 cemes, smaller than in Melastoma. 



A considerable genus, spread over tropical Asia and Africa. 



1. O. chinensis, Linn. ; Blume, Mus. Bot. i. 50. An erect herb, either 

 annual or forming a perennial stock, glabrous, or with a few short stiff hairs ; 

 the stem quadrangular, 1| to 2 ft. high. Leaves very shortly stalked, linear, 

 linear-oblong, or almost lanceolate, 1 to 2 in. long, 2 to 4 lines broad. Flowers 

 several together, forming sessile terminal clusters, almost condensed into heads. 



