Memecyion.] Melastomacece. 2 1 9 



times as long as cal., slender, umbels on a short stout peduncle 

 in axils of both past and present 1., buds pointed ; cal. shallow, 

 nearly truncate, disk distinctly rayed ; fruit small, ^ in., glo- 

 bose. 



Lower montane zone 3000-4000 ft.; rather common. Hantane; 

 Deltota ; Medamahanuwara. Fl. May ; very pale blue. 



Endemic. 



A fairly distinct species by its very small flowers in simple stalked 

 umbels. Wood yellow, hard, smooth. I have it from the Pasdun Korale 

 under the name of ' Gal-pinibaru.' 



20. ItX. ang-ustifolium, Wight, III. i. 215 (1840). 

 Cogn. 1. c. 1 1 57. Thw. Enum. m. C. P. 1556, 3346. 

 Fl. B. Ind. ii. 262. Wight, Ic. t. 276. 



A small shrub, 6-8 ft., with many erect slender branches, 

 twigs sub-quadrangular; 1. 2-3 in., linear or lanceolate-linear, 

 almost sessile, much tapering to base, caudate-acuminate or 

 rounded at apex, stiff, shining above, paler and dull beneath, 

 midrib depressed on upper surface, lat. veins invisible ; fl. on 

 slender ped., 2 or 3 times as long as cal., umbellate or pani- 

 culate, peduncles under \ in., disk without rays; fruit small, 

 about \ in., black-purple. 



Low country in the beds of streams and banks of rivers up to 2000 ft.4 

 rather common. Sigiri (Gardner) ; Uma-oya ; Ambagamuwa ; Sabara- 

 gamuwa ; Labiigama ; Knuckles (Ferguson). Fl. Feb.-July ; bright 

 purplish-blue. 



Also in Southern India. 



C. P. 1556 (from Uma-oya) has obtuse non-acuminate 1. and consider- 

 ably larger fl. in a larger compound pedunculate inflorescence. 



21. IVI. phyllanthifolium, Thw. ex Tria,7iain Trans. Linn. Soc. 

 xxviii. 159 (name only) (1 87 1 ). 



Cogn. 1. c. 1 165. C. P. 3901. 

 Fl. B. Ind. ii. 563. 



An erect stiff shrub, with numerous erect nodular branches, 

 twigs cylindrical; 1. very numerous, closely placed, small, under 

 A in., nearly sessile, erect, rigid, linear-oblong, tapering to base, 

 rounded at apex, margin somewhat recurved, lat. veins in- 

 visible; fl. nearly sessile, very small, 2 or 3 together at summit 

 of very short peduncle, cal. -limb spreading, segm. acute ; fruit 

 small, scarcely j- in., crowned with conspicuous cal. -limb. 



Upper montane zone ; very rare. Bogawantalawa at about 5000 ft.; 

 first collected in 1866. Fl. March. 



Endemic. 



Quite unlike the rest of the genus, with the habit of a shrubby 

 PJiyllanthus. 



22. IVI. rhinophyllum, Thw. Enam. 110(1859). 

 (ji'y-n. I. c. 1 166. C. 1'. 2<j2>',. 



Fl. 15. Ind. ii. 562. 



