Sonerila.] MELASTOMACEAE. 497 



5. Sonerila, Koxb. 



Herbs, sometimes shrubby below, sometimes stemless, often 

 fleshy. Leaves opposite, the pairs equal or unequal, entire or 

 serrulate, ribbed or nerved from near the base or penninerved. 

 Floivers mostly purple reddish or white, in scorpioid cymes. 

 Calyx-tube funnel-shaped canipanulate or hemispheric ; teeth 3, 

 short. Petals 3. Stamens 3, rarely 6, equal, anthers oblong or 

 lanceolate, connective without appendage. Ovary inferior, 3-celled> 

 maiiy-ovuled, the placentas axile ; style simple, filiform ; stigma 

 small or capitellate. Fruit a capsule, enclosed in the persistent 

 calyx-tube, dehiscing apically by 3 valves. Seeds very many, 

 minute, smooth or tuberculate, the raphe forming a lateral 

 appendage. 



Stems erect, elongate : 

 Leaves membranous: 



Small soft herb with very small flowers and small truncate 

 anthers ; stems glandular-pilose, often winged ; leaves ovate, 

 under 1 in. long, with a pair of slender nerves from above the 



base 1. tenera. 



Erect suffrutescent herbs with rather large flowers and acuminate 

 or rostrate anthers : 



Leaves with one slender pair of nerves from the base, a stronger 

 pair a short way up covered with scattered bristly hairs, oblong- 

 lanceolate, subentire, 1-1'5 in. long ; fruiting capsule smooth, 



ribbed 2. Clarlcei. 



Leaves with 2-3 pairs of nerves from the base and a pair or 

 more of nerves a short way up, all ascending almost to the 

 apex and joining in loops : 



Leaves glabrous or nearly so, minutely serrate on the 

 margins : 



Leaves under 2'5 in. long, acuminate at apex, rounded at 

 base, the petiole up to T25 in. long; fruiting capsule 



glabrous 3. Brunonis. 



Leaves 3-4 in. long, acuminate at apex, cordate at base, 

 the petiole about 2 in. long ; fruiting capsule glandular, 



hairy 4. elegans. 



Leaves with ferruginous silky hairs on both surfaces, acute 

 at apex, narrowed at base, the margins ciliate, 1-3 in. long, 

 the petiole about 1 in. ; fruiting capsule with few glandular 

 hairs 5. travancorica. 



