ADDISONIA 65 
(Plate 73) 
CENTRADENIA FLORIBUNDA 
Many-flowered Centradenia 
Native of Mexico and Central America 
Family MELASTOMACEARE M&ADOW-BEAUTY Family 
Centradenia floribunda Planch, Fl, Serres 5: 453. 1849, 
A branching shrub, two to three feet high, with twat 
he leaves 
cinereous on the under surface, covered with stiff appressed hairs, 
and with three prominent veins. The inflorescence is in terminal, 
many-flowered cymes, the pubescent pedicels bearing delicate pink 
flowers about one half inch across. ‘The glandular-pubescent hy- 
panthium is broadly campanulate, somewhat four-sided, faintly 
eight-nerved, bearing upon its margin the sepals, petals, and 
stamens. There are four short, triangular sepals, alternating with 
the four petals. The petals are oval, obtuse, and obliquely placed. 
There are eight stamens, the filaments of which are short, and bear 
yellow, elliptic anthers; the four of these opposite the petals are 
smaller and darker colored than the other four. The ovary, en- 
closed by the hypanthium, is four-celled, many-ovuled, and sur- 
mounted by a short style and inconspicuous stigma. The capsule 
is glabrous, with four cells containing elliptic seeds. 
This is one of the four or five species of the Mexican and Central 
American genus Centradenia; two others are often cultivated, 
C. grandifolia, with larger, colored leaves, and C. inaequilateralis, 
with smaller one-sided leaves. Planchon described our species in 
1849 from a plant grown in the establishment of Louis Van Houtte, 
the famous Belgian horticulturist. In this species the reduction 
of the anther-appendages, which are so pronounced and curious in 
many plants of the Meadow-beauty family, is noticeable; the other 
cultivated species have prominent appendages. é 
Our illustration was prepared from a plant growing in the New 
York Botanical Garden greenhouses since 1902, coming originally 
from the National Botanic Garden at Washington. Although it 
lacks the richly colored foliage of C. grandifolia, its many flowers 
and red stems make it very attractive. It can be grown easily 
