550 LX. MELASTOMACEJ;. (C. B. Clarke.) [Hedinilla. 



17. POGON ANTHER A, JBlume. 



Shrubs, nearly glabrous ; branches round, minutely scaly. Leaves opposite, 

 petioled, oblong or ovate, entire, glabrous, 3-nerved. Floivers small, pulveru- 

 lent, in small terminal panicles having opposite branches. Calyx-tube campanu- 

 late, subquadrangular ; limb 4-toothed. Petals 4, lanceolate. Stamens 8, 

 equal ; anthers oblong, acute, opening by a terminal pore, not produced at the 

 base ; connective at the base bearded behind with a tuft of hairs, not spurred. 

 Ovary half-inferior, 4-celled, with a tuft of hairs at the apex ; style filiform ; 

 ovules very many, placentas axile. Berry small, globose, 4-celled, crowned with 

 the calyx-limb. Seeds very many, obovoid-oblong, smooth. DISTRIB. Species 

 2 j in Malaya from Malacca to Borneo. 



1. P. pulverulenta, Blume in Flora, 1831, 521; Korth, Verh. Nat. 

 Gesch. Bot. t. 65 ; Griff. Notul. iv. 678 ; Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. i. pt. i. 553 ; Triana 

 in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxviii. 89. Melastoma reflexa, Blume I. c. ; Naud. in Ann. 

 Sc. Nat. ser. 3. xv. 303 ; Triana I. c. M. pulverulentum, Jack in Trans. Linn. 

 Soc. xiv. p. 19 ; DC. Prodr. iii. 149 ; Blume Bijd. 1072. M. rubicundum, Jack 

 I. c. 18; DC. I.e. 148 ; Wall. Cat. 4086. 



MALACCA and SINGAPORE ; Wallich, Griffith, Maingay. DISTBIB. Through Malaya 

 to Borneo. 



Leaves 3-4 by 1-2^- in., narrowed to both ends, 3-nerved with sometimes other two 

 faint nerves close to the margin ; petiole \-^ in., with two tubercles or auricles at its 

 apex. Panicle 2-3 in. and as much broad, short-peduncled, with minute bracts at the 

 divisions. Berry about | in. broad, narrowed beneath the small calyx-limb. Blum* 

 distinguishes as P. reflexa, a form with white transparent petals having a minute 

 tooth on each margin, and which occurs creeping on rocks near the seashore as 

 noted by Jack and Griffith, from the typical P. pulverulenta which occurs in the 

 forests, and which has red petals powdered with yellow and a tooth on each side. 

 The distinction between the limb of the petal being toothed or only tumid cannot be 

 traced in the dried specimens : and Blume's subsidiary distinctions regarding the 

 texture of the leaves and the presence or absence of the extra pair of submarginal 

 veins do not hold. Jack named the white-flowered form rubicundum because the 

 panicle and calyces are in it a fine rose-purple. 



18. ASTRONXA, Blume. 



Shrubs with round branches. Leaves opposite, petioled, ovate or oblong, 

 entire, 3-^nerved. Flowers in terminal panicles, small, white or purple. Calyx- 

 tube campanulate, glabrous or puberulous ; limb irregularly truncate or 3-8-lobed. 

 Petals 4-5. Stamens 8-10-12, equal ; filaments short, broad ; anthers short, 

 obtuse, opening by slits down the front, connective spurred at the base or unap- 

 pendaged. Ovary inferior, 2-5-celled, glabrous at the apex ; style short, stigma 

 capitellate ; ovules numerous, placentas axile, nearly basal. Capsule finally break- 

 ing up irregularly. Seeds very many, linear, raphe excurrent. DISTRIB. Species 

 12 ; in Malaya, the Fiji and Navigator groups and Tahiti. 



1. A. smilacifolia, Triana in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxviii. 152 ; glabrous, 

 panicle and calyx-tube minutely brown-rufous tomentose, calyx-limb minutely 

 5-lobed. Melastoma smilacifolia, Wall. Cat. 4057. 



PINANG ; Wallich. MALAYA ; Maingay No. 808. 



