MELASTOMAC^EE. (MELASTOMA FAMILY.) 127 



ORDER 41. MEL.ASTOMACEJE. (MELASTOMA FAMILY.) 



Myrtle-like plants, with opposite ribbed leaves, and anthers opening by 

 pores at the apex ; otherwise much as in the Evening-Primrose Family. 

 All tropical, except the genus 



1. RHEXIA, L. DEER-GRASS. MEADOW-BEAUTY. 



Calyx-tube urn-shaped, coherent with the ovary below, and continued above 

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

 serted, along with the 8 stamens, on the summit of the calyx-tube. Anthers 

 long, 1 -celled, inverted in the bud. Style 1 : stigma 1. Pod invested by the 

 permanent calyx, 4-celled, with 4 many-seeded placentas projecting from the 

 central axis. Seeds coiled like a snail-shell, without albumen. Low perennial 

 herbs, often bristly, with sessile 3 - 5-nerved and bristle-edged leaves, and large 

 showy cymose flowers ; the petals falling early. (Name from prj&s, o, rupture. 

 applied to f his genus for no obvious reason.) 



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

 filament above its base : flowers cymose, peduncled. 



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

 lanceolate, acute ; petals bright purple. Sandy swamps, Massachusetts along 

 the coast, to Virginia, Ohio, and southward. July. 



2. R ItfcirifilAcl, L. Stems cylindrical; leaves linear-oblong, narrowed 

 below ; petals paler. Sandy swamps, N. Jersey, Kentucky, and southward. 



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



3. R. ciliosa, Michx. Stem square, glabrous; leaves broadly ovate, 

 ciliate with long bristles ; calyx glabrous. Maryland and southward. 



ORDER 42. LYTHRACE^E. (LOOSESTRIFE FAMILY.) 



Herbs, with mostly opposite entire leaves, no stipules, the calyx enclosing, 

 but free from, the 1 ^-celled many-seeded ovary and membranous pod, and 

 bearing the 4-7 deciduous petals and 4-14 stamens on its throat; the latter 

 lower down. Style 1 : stigma capitate, or rarely 2-lobed. Flowers axillary 

 or whorled, rarely irregular. Petals sometimes wanting. Pod often 1- 

 celled by the early breaking away of the thin partitions : placentae in the 

 axis. Seeds anatropous, without albumen. Branches usually 4-sided. 



Synopsis. 



* Flowers regular, or very nearly so. 



1. AMMANNIA Calyx short, 4-angled, not striate. Petals 4, or none. Stamens 4. 



2. LYTHRUM. Calyx tubular-cylindrical, striate. Petals 4 -7. Stamens 5-14. 



8. NES^A. Calyx short-campanulate. Stamens 10 - 14, exserted, mostly unequal. 



* * Flowers irregular : petals unequal. 

 4. CUPHEA. Calyx spurred or enlarged on one side at the base. Stamens 12. 



