298 LYTHRACEAE. 



1. TETBAZYGIA L. C. Ricli.; DC. Prodr. 3: 172. 1828. 



Trees or shrubs, the foliage often scurfy, with petioled, entire or toothed 

 leaves, and rather small flowers in terminal panicles or corymbs. Calyx con- 

 stricted above the ovary, its limb 4-5-lobed or subtruncate. Petals 4 or 5, 

 obovate. Stamens S or 10, nearly equal; filaments subulate; anthers linear, 

 opening by a pore. Ovary 4-5-celled; style curved, filiform; stigma minute. 

 Fruit a 4^5-celled fleshy berry. [Greek, referring to the 4-parted flowers of 

 the type species.] About 16 species of the West Indian region. Type species: 

 Tetrazygia tetrandra (Sw.) DC. 



1. Tetrazygia bicolor (Mill.) Cogn. in DC. Monogr. Phan. 7:. 724. 1891. 



Melastoma bicolor Mill. Diet. ed. 8, No. 6. 1768. 



A shrub or small tree up to 6 m. high, with scaly bark, the young twigs 

 scurfy. Leaves lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 0.8-2 dm. long, strongly 3- 

 ribbed and with, many widely spreading lateral veins, entire, acuminate at 

 the apex, mostly obtuse at the base, green above, whitish-scurfy beneath, the 

 slender scurfy petioles 2-4 em. long; panicles peduncled, 1-2 dm. long, sev- 

 eral-many-flowered; pedicels slender, 5-10 mm. long; calyx-limb subtruncate; 

 petals 4, white, 7-8 mm. long; berry subglobose, purple or black, 8-10 mm. 

 in diameter. 



Scrub-lands, pine-lands and coppices, Abaco, Great Bahama, Andros, New Provi- 

 dence and Eleuthera : — Florida : Cuba. Reported by Grisebach and by Dolley as 

 T. angustiflora Griseb. and by Sehoepf as Melastoma discolor L. Tetrazygia. 



Family 2. LYTHRACEAE Lindl. 



Loosestrife Fa^iily. 



Herbs, shrubs, or often trees in tropical regions, mostly with opposite 

 leaves and perfect flowers. Stipules usually none. Calyx persistent, free 

 from the ovai-y, the limb toothed. Petals as many as the primary calyx- 

 teeth, inserted on the calyx, or none. Stamens inserted on the calyx. 

 Anthers versatile. Ovary 2-6-celled or sometimes 1-celled; style 1; ovules 

 CO, rarely few, anatropous. Capsule 1-several-celled. Seeds without endo- 

 sperm; cotyledons flat, often aurieled at the base. About 21 genera and 

 400 species, of wide distribution. 



Fruit globose ; flowers regular. 



Herbs with axillary inflorescence. 1. Ammannia. 



Shrubs or small trees with terminal inflorescence. 2. Lawsonia. 



Fruit elongated ; flowers irregular. • 3. Parsonsia. 



1. AMMANNIA [Houst.] L. Sp. PI. 119. 1753. 



Annual glabrous or glabrate herbs, mostly with 4-angled stems, opposite 

 sessile narrow leaves, and small axillary flowers. Calyx campanulate, globose 

 or ovoid, 4-angled, 4-toothed, often with small accessory teeth in the sinuses. 

 Petals 4, deciduous or none. Stamens 4-8, inserted on the calyx-tube. Ovary 

 nearly globular, 2-4-celled. Capsule bursting irregularly. [Named for Johann 

 Ammann, 1699-1741, a German botanist.] About 20 species, of wide distri- 

 bution. Type species: Ammannia latifolia L. 



