Soneriia.] Melastomacete. 201 



An epiphytic scandent shrub, the young stems climbing to 

 a great height by copious slender adventitious roots, branches 

 cylindrical or young ones quadrangular, stout, bark pale 

 yellow, smooth, shining, flaking off in rectangular pieces > 

 young parts scurfy ; 1. on the young climbing branches small, 

 i-ii in., lanceolate, acute, ciliate-dentate, on the flowering 

 shoots larger, 2-2J in., oval or oblong, acute at base, obtuse, 

 entire, glabrous, thick, 5-nerved, the lat. nerves joining the 

 midrib, bright green and shining above, pale and dull beneath, 

 petiole very short, stout ; fl. large, 2 J-3 in., 3-S together in 

 terminal umbels, ped. 1-1^ in., stout, bracts small, oblong, 

 obtuse ; cal.-tube turbinate, ovoid, glabrous, limb short 

 spreading, segm. short, fleshy, pointed; pet. ovate-rotundate, 

 fleshy, spreading ; top of ov. 4-lobed, glabrous, style longer 

 than stam. 



Climbing over trunks of trees in the forests of the lower montane 

 zone, and extending down to 2000 ft. in the Kukul Korale ; common. 

 Fl. January to May; bright clear rose colour, cal. red. 



Also found in the Anamallay Hills, S. India. 



A very lovely plant when in flower, and a great ornament to the lower 

 hill-forests, reaching to the tops of high trees. The mode of climbing is 

 precisely like that of ivy, the young shoots and leaves being pressed close 

 to the bark and clinging to it by numerous rootlets, whilst the flowering 

 branches stand away from the support. 



The leaves vary in form, and are sometimes suborbicular and rounded 

 at the base. 



4. SONERILA, Roxb. 



Herbs often woody at base, 1. opp., fl. in scorpioid ter- 

 minal racemes ; cal.-tube connate below with ov. and pro- 

 longed beyond it, segm. 3, small, usually deciduous ; pet. 3,. 

 ovate, acute ; stam. 3, anth. blunt or pointed or rostrate, 

 opening by 2 pores, cells more or less divergent at base ; ov. 

 inferior, 3-celled, with numerous horizontal ovules ; fruit a 

 trigonous capsule, dehiscing at summit by 3 short valves, 

 seeds very numerous, usually muriculate, with minute 

 tubercles. — Sp. 70 CCogniaux) ; 43 in Fl. B. Ind. 



The species have been unduly multiplied by botanists ; for Ceylon 

 there arc 15 ^iven by Thwaites and 16 in Fl. B. Ind., and Cogniaux 

 makes as many as 21. In a recent paper by Stapf (Ann. Bot. vi. 291, 



s), many of these are reduced to S. zeylanica and S. Wightiana, and 

 he has clearly shown that the length of the anthers does not afford a 

 sufficient character for separating species. 



It is probable that natural hybrids not unfrequently occur in this genus. 



* Soncri-ila, the native Malabar name as given by Rhcede. 



