148 MELASTOMA FAMILY 



45. MELASTOMACE^I, 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 calyx, anthers usually of peculiar shape and opening 

 by a small hole at the ap-x. Flowers usually handsome, but mostly 

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

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

 None in common cultivation, but the following are those more 

 usually met with in choice conservatories : 



Centrad6nia r6sea, from Mexico : a low and bushy almost herbaceous 

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

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

 each pair), producing ureat abundant- j of small ilowcrs in short raceme-like clus- 

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

 and tail-like appendages. 



Heteroc6ntron r6seum, from Mexico : an herb, or nearly so, with thin 

 ovate leaves which are feather-reined rather than ribbed, and with terminal pani- 

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

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

 without. 



Cyanoph^llum metallicum, from Central America, cultivated in hot- 

 houses for its magnificent fo.iage; the ovate leaves sometimes fully two feet 

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

 U. S. genus, 



1. RH^JXIA, 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-ribbcd leaves, Avith handsome ilowers in a terminal cyme or panicle. 

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

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

 obovate. Stamens 8, with hnthera opening by a single minute hole. JStvle 

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

 shells. Fl. summer. % 



* Anthers linear and curved, with a sac-like base and usually a minute spur: 



jloivern in a panicle or Icxjse cytge. 



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/!r** 

 and large pink-purple Howers. * 



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

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

 base, and paler purple Howers hairy outside. 



R. glab611a. Pine-barrens S* : smooth, with a simple slender stem, lan- 

 vceolate glaucous leaves, and large bright-purple flowers. 



* * Anthers oMony and strait fit, destitute of any appendage. 

 H- Flowers purple, few or so! if an/ : fcares small (w/v/// 1' /"'/), rounded-ovate, 



ciliate irif/i Ion;/ bristlex : stein ,sv/w//r, sn*>t/t. 



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

 leaves bristly on the uppf-r face ; and calyx smooth. 



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

 smooth above ; calyx bristly. 



*- t- Flowers yelloir, small, numerous, not cn.-<ti>!f/ the ]>rtah ear'//, as do the others: 

 stem 4-aiit/lcd, bristly, l>ns!iij-i,r<i)iclil <i!,,>,; . 



R. lutea. From \,,rth Carolina S. \V. : stem 1 high, bristly; leaves 

 lanceolate, or the lower olx>vate ; calyx smooth. 



