MELA STOMA OEM 



15 



DisscchcG'a [Omphalopus) fallax. 



Fig. 23. Stamtns. 



DissocliTta, the bud of which is surrounded by two concave and 



valvate bracts forming an involucre (fig. 24), and Dalenia, diploste- 



monous Dissochceta with calyptriform 



calyx and two anterior prominences of 



the connective, often slender and setiform. 



SaJcersia, from western tropical Africa, is 



Dalenia with pentamerous flowers (having 



also many characters of certain Os6^cli*as), 



and Dicellandra, climbing shrubs of the 



same country, have, besides, a small 



basilar appendage to the connective. All 



these types with us represent only sections 



of the genus Dissochceta, 



Mavumia (fig. 25), which has many 

 characters in common with the preceding 

 genera (and also with Melastoma to which 

 they lead us back), has a tubular recep- 

 tacle, covered, as are likewise the four 

 thick sepals, with a glandular or feathery 

 down, and eight stamens the connective 

 of which is prolonged at the base and is furnished at the point of 

 union with the filament with two or more long slender filiform hairs. 

 They inhabit the Indian Archipelago, 

 Malaya, and the Philippine isles. 



A separate tribe has been made of 

 FJiexia (whose name it has received) and 

 of Monochcetum. In the latter (fig. 26), 

 the tetramerous flowers have eight sta- 

 mens in two verticils ; but the most de- 

 veloped are superposed to the petals. At 

 the back of the connective is a thick 

 claviform appendage. In the alternipe- 

 talous stamens, the anther of which is 

 more slender, paler, and less rich in 

 pollen, the dorsal appendage of the 

 connective is longer and much less 

 thick. Monoclicetum comprises Peruvian 

 and Mexican plants. In Rhcxia, belonging exclusively to North 

 America, the stamens are but slightly unequal and have a dorsal 



Dissocliceta {^Chreochiton) bibracteata. 



Fig. 24. Bud, enveloped in its 

 two lateral bracts. 



