148 MELASTOMA FAMILY. 



45. MELASTOMACE.2E, MELASTOMA FAMILY. 



Plants with opposite and simple 3 - 7-ribbed leaves, no stipules, 

 as many or twice as many stamens as petals, both inserted in the 

 throat of the ealyx, anthers usually or' peculiar shape and opening 

 by a small hole at the apex. Flowers usually handsome, but mostly 

 scentless. A large order in the tropics, represented in northern 

 temperate regions only by the genus Rhexia of the Atlantic States. 

 None in common cultivation, but the following are those more 

 usually met with in choice conservatories : 



Centraddnia r6sea, from Mexico : a low and bushy almost herbaceous 

 plant, with unequal-sided and falcate broadly lanceolate leaves, apparently 

 alternate (which comes from the diminution or total suppression of one leaf of 

 each pair), producing great abundance of small flowers in short raceme-like clus- 

 ters, with 4 white an d rose-tinged petals, and 8 anthers with curious club-shaped 

 and tail-like appendages. 



Heterocentron r6seum, from Mexico : an herb, or nearly so, with thin 

 ovate leaves which i\ref<-athcr-i'eied rather than ribbed, and with terminal pani- 

 cles of handsome bright rose-colored flowers (and a white variety), of 4 petals 

 and 8 very unequal and dissimilar stamens, some with appendages at base, some 

 without. 



Cyanophyllum metallicum, from Central America, cultivated in hot- 

 houses for its magnificent foliage ; the ovate leaves sometimes fully two feet 

 long, purple beneath and bluish above with metallic lustre. Then we have the 

 U. S. genus, 



1. RHEXIA, DEER-GRASS, MEADOW-BEAUTY. (Name from 

 Greek for rupture: application obscure.) Low erect herbs of wet or sandy 

 ground, commoner S., often bristly, at least on the margins of the sessile 

 3 - 5-ribbed leaves, with handsome flowers in a terminal cyme or panicle. 

 Tube of the calyx urn-shaped, adherent to the lower part of the 4-celled ovary 

 and continued beyond it into a short 4-toothcd cup, persistent. Petals 4, 

 obovate. Stamens 8, with anthers opening by a single minute hole. Style 

 slender: stigma simple. Seeds numerous in the pod, coiled like minute snail- 

 shells. El. summer. ^ 



# Anthers linear and curved, ivith a sac-like base and usually a minute spur : 

 flowers in a panicle or loose cyme. 



R. Virginica. The common species N., in sandy swamps : 6' -20' high, 

 with square stem almost winged at the angles, ovate or lance-oval sessile leaves, 

 and large pink-purple flowers. 



R. Mariana. From New Jersey and Kentucky S. : 10' -24' high, with 

 terete or 6-angled branching stem, linear or lance-oblong leaves narrowed at 

 base, and paler purple flowers hairy outside. 



R. glabella. Pine-barrens S. : smooth, with a simple slender stem, lan- 

 ceolate glaucous leaves, and large bright-purple flowers. 



* * Anthers oblong and straight, destitute of any appendage. 

 H Flowers purple, few or solitary : leaves small (rarely 1' long), rounded-ovate, 

 ciliate with long bristles : stem square, smooth. 



R. Cili6sa. Bogs in pine barrens from Maryland S. : stem 10'- 12' high; 

 leaves bristly on the upper face ; and calyx smooth. 



R. serrulata. Bogs- in pine barrens wholly S. : stem 3' -6' high; leaves 

 smooth above ; calyx bristly. 



+- -i- Flowers yellow, small, numerous, not casting the petals early, as do the others : 

 stem 4-a)igled, bristly, bushy-branched above. 



R. lutea. From North Carolina S. & W. : stem 1 high, bristly; leaves 

 lanceolate, or the lower obovate ; calyx smooth. 



