106 



MEL 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



MEL 



cell. Pistil: germen roundish, in the belly of the calix; 

 style filiform, straight; stigma blunt or headed. Pericarp: 

 berry two, three, four, or five celled, wrapped up in the 

 calix, roundish, crowned with a cylindric rim. Seeds: very 

 many, nestling. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : five- 

 cleft, bell-shaped. Petals: five, inserted into the calix. 

 Berry: five-celled, wrapped up in the calix : (according to 

 Gsertner, Capsule with a soft pulp, five-celled, opening in 

 five parts at top.) The best way to obtain the numerous 

 plants of this genus, is to have the entire fruits put up in 

 dry sand as soon as they are ripe, and forwarded to England 

 by the quickest conveyance. They should be taken out as 

 soon as they arrive, and the seeds sown in pots of light earth, 

 and plunged into a moderate hot-bed of tanner's bark. When 

 the plants are fit to remove, plant each in a small pot of 

 light earth, plunging them into the tan-bed; afterwards treat 

 them as other woody stove-plants. They may also be pro- 

 pagated by cuttings and layers. The species are, 



1. Melastoma Acinodendron. Leaves toothletted, with 

 thijee nerves or thereabouts, ovate-acute. This becomes a 

 large tree, having many crooked branches, with a brown 

 bark. The fruit grows in loose spikes at the end of the 

 branches, is thinly placed in the spikes, and of a violet-colour. 

 Native of South America. 



2. Melastoma Grossulariodes. Leaves toothletted, triple- 

 nerved, ovate, acuminate. Native of Surinam. 



3. Melastoma Scabrosa. Leaves triple-nerved, toothletted, 

 ovate, rugged, hirsute ; flowers axillary, aggregate, sessile, 

 eight-stamined. Native of the cooler mountains of Jamaica. 



4. Melastoma Hirta. Leaves toothletted, five-nerved, ovate- 

 lanceolate; stem hispid. Native of the woody mountains of 

 Jamaica, flowering in spring and autumn. 



5. Melastoma Fragilis. Leaves serrate, five-nerved, net- 

 ted ; racemes with sessile flowers, all directed one way. 

 This is a stiffish shrub. Native of Surinam. 



6. Melastoma Aspera. Leaves quite entire, three-nerved, 

 lanceolate, rugged Native of the East Indies. 



7. Melastoma Holosericea. Leaves entire, three-nerved, 

 sessile, ovate-acute, villosersilky ; racemes brachiate ; 

 branches two-parted; stem acutely quadrangular; corollas 

 large; petals violet-purple. Native of Jamaica and Brazil. 



&, Melastoma Strigosa. Leaves quite entire, three-nerved, 

 strigose, ovate ; flowers solitary. A shrub, with purple 

 corollas. Found by Mutis in New Granada. 



9. Melastoma Sessilifolia. Leaves quite entire, triple- 

 nerved, spatulate, sessile, tomentose underneath. Native of 

 Jamaica. 



10. Melastoma Malabathrica. Leaves quite entire, five- 

 nerved, lanceolate-ovate, rugged. This is a tree, with rug- 

 ged branches. Native oT the East Indies. 



11. Melastoma Leevigata. Leaves quite entire, five-nerved, 

 ovate-oblong, levigated, acuminated, even about the edge. 

 This is an upright shrub, about the height of a man ; stem 

 smooth and even. Native of Jamaica. 



12. Melastoma Discolor. Leaves quite entire, five-nerved, 

 oblong, acuminate, smooth and even at the edge ; racemes 

 cymed; flowers eight-stamined. This tree is about fifteen 

 feet high, withsubreclining ash-coloured branches, the younger 

 ones tomentose ; flowers small, scentless, yellow. Native of 

 the West Indies, flowering in March. 



13. Melastoma Octandra. Leaves quite entire, three- 

 nerved, ovate, smooth, hispid at the edge. Native of the 

 East Indies. 



14. Melastoma Grossa. Leaves quite entire, five-nerved, 

 subcordate, rugged. This tree has stiffish, round, hispid, 

 branches. Found in New Grajiada by Mutis. 



15. Melastoma Crispata. Leaves quite entire, five-nerved, 

 in fours; branches curled. Native of Amboyna. 



16. Melastoma Glabra. Leaves quite entire, three-nerved, 

 elliptic-lanceolate, rugged; calices cut round. Native of the 

 Society Isles. 



17. Melastoma Grandiflora. Leaves cordate, five-nerved, 

 serrulate, both they and the stem rough-haired ; peduncles 

 bifid, five stamina barren ; branches herbaceous, four-cor- 

 nered. The whole plant hairy. Native of Cayenne. 



18. Melastoma Septemnervia. Leaves seven-nerved, quite 

 entire, lanceolate-ovate, hispid; stem shrubby, six feet high, 

 upright. Native of Cochin-china. 



19. Melastoma Dodecandra. Leaves five-nerved, quite 

 entire, smooth ; flower twelve-stamined. This is a small 

 shrub, about ten inches high, upright, even. Native of 

 China about Canton, and also of Cochin-china. 



*Ten-stamined, with three-nerved Leaves. 



20. Melastoma Prooera. Stem arboreous ; leaves three- 

 nerved, somewhat toothletted, smooth; raceme terminating; 

 spikes simple, erect; calices truncated. Native of the West 

 Indies. 



21. Melastoma Patens. Leaves three-nerved, somewhat 

 toothletted, cordate, hirsute ; raceme terminating, patulous ; 

 flowers distinct, twelve-stamined. Native of the West Indies. 



22. Melastoma Rigida. Leaves three-nerved, somewhat 

 toothletted, ovate, subcordate, rigid, rugged behind; panicles 

 terminating, ferruginous, hirsute. Native of the W. Indies. 



23. Melastoma Quadrangularis. Leaves three-nerved, 

 entire, ovate-lanceolate, smooth ; nerves coloured ; branches 

 quadrangular ; racemes straight, terminating. Native of the 

 West Indies. 



24. Melastoma Scandens. Leaves three-nerved, tooth- 

 letted, ovate, acute, smooth; raceme terminating; gpikes 

 mostly pointing one way; stem climbing. Native of the 

 West Indies. 



25. Melastoma Montana. Leaves three-nerved, toothlet- 

 ted, oblong, acute, smoothish ; racemes terminating, with 

 patulous spikes ; petals retuse ; calix truncated. Native of 

 the West Indies. 



26. Melastorqa Trinervia. Leaves three-nerved, without 

 any marginal nerve, oblong, attenuated at the base and tip, 

 entire, smooth on both sides, thinner; racemes almost simple, 

 terminating. Native of the West Indies. 



27. Melastoma Ramiflora. Leaves three-nerved, entire, 

 ovate-lanceolate, somewhat rugged; branches flower-bear- 

 ing; flowers peduncled, somewhat clustered. Native of the 

 West Indies. 



28. Melastoma Aromatica. Leaves ovate, shining, some- 

 what hairy underneath ; nerves and stems strigose ; calices 

 with imbricate bractes at the base. Native of Guiana. 



29. Melastoma Crenata. Hispid : leaves subcordate, ob- 

 long, crenate, acuminate; racemes axillary, few-flowered, the 

 length of the petiole. Native of South America. 



30. Melastoma Decussata. Leaves lanceolate-oblong, 

 serrulate, ciliate, very smooth above ; spikes racemed, two- 

 parted; flowers clustered. Native of Cayenne. 



31. Melastoma Prasina. Leaves triple-nerved, quite entire, 

 broad, lanceolate, smooth ; panicle terminating, spreading 

 very much. Native of the West Indies. 



**Ten-stamined, with five-nerved Leaves. 



32. Melastoma Elegans. Hispid: leaves cordate, une- 

 qually crenate- toothed ; racemes in the forkings and termi- 

 nating, few-flowered. Native of Cayenne. 



33. Melastoma Physiphora. Leaves ovate, attenuated, 

 toothletted, ciliate; petioles hispid, bladdery at the tip. 

 Found in Cayenne and Guiana. 



