MELASTO:\rACEAE (mELASTOMA FAMILY) 593 



trimorphous in the relative lengths of the stamens and style ; calyx and bracts 

 greenish, somewhat pubescent^ the calyx-lobes much shorter than the subulate 

 appendages. — Wet meadows, local, N. E. to Del. and D. C. (Introd. from Eu.) 

 June-Sept. Var. toment6sum (Mill.) DC. Calyx and bracts white-tomentose. 

 — Wet meadows and shores, e. Que. to Vt. and s. Ont. (Nat. from Eurasia.) 



5. L. virgAtum L. Similar, glabrous throughout; leaves narrowed to the 

 sessile or short-petioled base; the calyx-lobes shorter than or equaling the 

 appendages. — Locally established, e. Mass. {S. F. Poole). (Introd. from Eu- 

 rasia.) 



6. CtrPHEA P. Br. 



Calyx tubular, 12-ribbed, gibbous or spurred at the base on the upper side, 

 6-toothed at the apex, and usually with as many little processes in the sinuses. 

 Ovary with a curved gland at the base next the spur of the calyx, 1-2-celled ; 

 style slender ; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule oblong, few-seeded, early ruptured 

 through one side. — Flowers solitary or racemose, stalked. (Name from KV(p6s, 

 gibbous., from the shape of the calyx. ) 



1, C. petiolata (L.) Koehne. (Clammy C.) Annual, very viscid-hairy, 

 branching ; leaves ovate-lanceolate ; petals ovate, short-clawed, purple ; seeds 

 flat. (C. viscossima Jacq. ; Parsonsia Rusby.; — Dry fields, N. H. {Miss 

 Scorgie) to Ga., w. to Kan. and La. 



MELASTOMAcEAE (Melastoma Family) 



Plants with opposite S-7-ribbed leaves, and definite stamens, the anthers 

 opening by pores at the apex; otherwise much as in the Onagraceae. — All 

 tropical, except the genus 



1. RHEXIA L. Deergrass. Meadow Beauty 



Calyx-tube urn-shaped, adherent to the ovary below, and continued above 

 it, persistent, 4-cleft at the apex. Petals 4, convolute in the bud, oblique, 

 inserted with the 8 stamens on the summit of the calyx-tube. Anthers long, 

 1-celled, inverted in the bud. Style 1 ; stigma 1. Capsule 4-celled, with 4 

 many-seeded placentae projecting from the central axis. Seeds coiled like a 

 snail-shell, without albumen. — Low perennial often bristly herbs with showy 

 cymose flowers in summer ; the petals falling early. (A name used by Pliny 

 for some unknown plant.) 



* Anthers linear, curved, with a minute spur on the back at the attachment of 

 the filament above its base; fiowers cymose, peduncled. 



1. R. virginica L. Stem square, with wing-like angles ; leaves oval-lanceo- 

 late, sessile, acute ; calyx-tube and pedicels more or less hispid with gland-tipped 

 hairs ; petals magenta. — ^ Sandy swamps and shores. Me. to Fla. ; also from s. w. 

 Ont. to s. e. la., and south w. July-Sept. — Slender rootstocks tuberiferous. 



2. R. arist5sa Britton. Branches somewhat wing-angled ; leaves linear- 

 oblong, sessile, not narrowed at base, naked or very sparsely hairy ; hairs of the 

 calyx mostly below the throat, not gland-tipped ; petals sparsely villous, phik 

 or purplish. — Wet pine barrens. Egg Harbor City, N. J. (J. E. Peters) to Ga. 

 July, Aug. 



3. R. mariana L. Stems cylindrical; leaves linear-oblong, narrowed below, 

 mostly petiolate ; petals paler. — Sandy swamps, L.I. to Fla., w. to Mo. and 

 Tex. 



* * Anthers oblong, straight, without any spur ; flowers few, sessile. 



4. R. cili5sa Michx. Stem square, glabrous ; leaves broadly ovate, ciliate 

 with long bristles ; calyx glabrous. — Md. to Fia. and La. 



gray's manual — 38 



