Kibessia.~\ LX. MELASTOMACEJ;. (C. B. Clarke.) 553 



4. K.. tuberculata, Hook. f. in Gen. PI. i. 772 ; young calyx-tube 

 covered with sessile flat tubercles, limb 4-toothed, fruit ovoid nearly glabrous 

 finally. Rectomitra tuberculata, Blume Mm. Bot. i. 7 ; Triana in Trans. Linn. 

 Soc. xxviii. 153. Ewyckia tuberculata, Korth. Verh. Nat. Gesch. Bot. 255; 

 Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. i. pt. i. 569. 



MALACCA ; Maingay No. 805. DISTRIB. Sumatra. 



BranMets round, glabrous. Leaves 23 in., ovate or elliptic, shortly acumi- 

 nate, glabrous ; petiole ~| in. Peduncles glabrous, clustered, 3-5-flowered ; bracts 

 less than in. Fruit -i in. diam. 



21. ZVSEMECTTI.ON, Linn. 



Shrubs or trees, glabrous. Leaves opposite, short-petioled or sessile, coriaceous, 

 orbicular ovate or lanceolate, entire, pinnate-nerved rarely 3-nerved. Flowers 

 usually in small axillary rarely terminal simple or panicled cymes or umbels. 

 Calyx-tube campanulate, glabrous ; limb dilated, truncate or shortly 4-lobed. 

 Petals 4, blue or white, rarely reddish. Stamens 8, equal, filaments long ; 

 anthers short, opening by slits in front, connective ending in a horn behind. 

 Ovary inferior, 1-celled ; apex glabrous surmounted by a convex or depressed 

 disc with 8 radiating grooves ; style filiform, simple ; ovules 6-12 (in M. 

 Maingayi 20 at least), whorled on a free central placenta. Berry globose or 

 ellipsoid, crowned with the calyx-margin, 1-seeded. Seed large, cotyledons 

 convolute. DISTRIB. Species about 100 (but very difficult and many doubtful 

 of determination) numerous in South-East Asia and its islands ; a few extending 

 into Polynesia and Australia, several in tropical Africa. 



The following is merely an artificial key to the material at Kew : the species 

 which appear tolerably distinct from M. edule are taken first ; and the last group 

 contains the enormous mass of specimens that appear difficult to separate from M. 

 edule. 



I. Leaves 3-nerved from the base. 



1. IME. Arnottianum, Thwaites Enum. 113; leaves long caudate- 

 acuminate, apex obtuse, peduncle 1 in. very slender. Triana in Trans. Linn. 

 Soc. xxviii. 159. Eugenia ? capitellata, Arn. Pugitt. 17. 



CEYLON ; " at no great elevation," Thwaites, Walker. 



Shrub 10-1 2 ft. ; branchlets slender, round. Leaves 2-2^ in., somewhat distichous, 

 elliptic, suddenly acuminated, base roundish, punctate on both surfaces ; petiole 

 scarcely ^ in. Peduncles solitary ; flowers few, very small, sessile at their apex ; 

 petals white (Thwaites). Berry scarcely in. diam., globose, areola ^ in. wide. A 

 variety communicated by Mr. Thwaites has the leaves much larger, 4^ in., the acumi- 

 nated apex much shorter. 



2. IH. Gardner!, Thivaites Enum. 113 ; leaves acute scarcely acumi- 

 nate, inflorescence clustered, peduncle 0- in. Triana in Trans. Linn. Soc. 

 xxviii. 159. 



CEYLON ; alt. 2000-5000 ft. ; Thwaites. 



A small tree ; ultimate branchlets quadrangular. Leaves broad-elliptic, narrowed 

 at the base, opaque, pellucid-punctate ; petiole ^ in. Flowers white (Thwaites), very 

 small ; buds very acute. Calyx-tube at the time of flowering funnel-shaped, dis- 

 tinctly 4-toothed. Berry size of a pea, spherical, purple-black. 



II. Leaves pinnate-nerved, often very opaque, midrib always conspicuous, 

 nerves conspicuous or obscure. 



