332 LI. MYETACEiE [Careya 



1. C. arborea, Roxb. Cor. PL t. 218 ; Wight 111. tt. 99, 100 ; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. 

 t. 205. Kunib, Kumbi, Kumhi, Hind. Beng. ; Kumbia, Mar. ; Gadava, Tel. ; 

 Kaval, Kaulu, Kan.; Ayama, Ayima, Tarn. ; Peru, Pela, Mai.; Bambice, 

 Burin. 



A large deciduous tree, 1. membranous, obovate, narrowed into a short mar- 

 ginate petiole, crenate, sec. n. prominent, 10-12 pair. PL 2-4 in. across, 

 sessile, with an unpleasant smell, each supported by 3 unequal bracts, a few 

 fl. clustered at the ends of branchlets, petals white or greenish-white, 

 1-2 in. long, filaments purple, ovules in 2 rows in each cell. Fr. green, fleshy, 

 2-3 in. diam. 



Subhimalayan tract, from the Jurnna eastwards. Throughout Bengal, the Central 

 Provinces, the Peninsula and Burma. Common in Savannahs. Fl. with young 1. in 

 March and April. Ceylon, very common. C. sjihcerica, Roxb. ; Wight Ic. 1. 147, Chitta- 

 gong, supposed to differ by acute petals and 6 rows of ovules in each cell, is doubtful. 

 2. C. herbacea, Roxb. Cor. PI. t. 217 {Lapkan, Oudh), grasslands in the Subhimalayan 

 tract from the Jumna eastwards. Bengal and Burma. A small undershrub, with a 

 thick woody rootstock, which produces annually (after the fires of the hot season) 

 herbaceous shoots witli cuneate dentate leaves and large beautiful purple fl., each 

 supported by 2 oblong bracts, on a short bracteate raceme, pedicels 1-2 in. long, fr. 

 1-1J in. diam. 



Planchonia andamanica, King in Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 70. 142. Andamans. An 

 evergreen tree, wood heavy, 1. broadly elliptic, blade 3-4, petiole f in. long, fl. 2 in. long, 

 in short racemes, pedicels 1-2 in. long, stamens oo, those of the inner series without 

 anthers. This probably is P. valida, Kurz F. Fl. I. 500 and P. littoralis of Fl. Brit. Ind. 

 ii. 511. 



Order LII. MELASTOMACEjE. Gen. PL i. 725. 



Mostly herbaceous, some shrubs, rarely trees, 1. opposite, entire or nearly so, 

 the majority of genera with 3-7 basal nerves, stip. 0. No translucent glands 

 in the 1. PL regular, bisexual, calyx-tube entirely or partially adnate to the 

 ovary, more or less prolonged beyond it, segments 4 or 5, deciduous. Stamens 

 twice the number of calyx-segments, inserted with the petals on the edge of 

 calyx-tube, filaments inflexed in bud, connective generally prolonged and often 

 much enlarged. Ovary 4-celled, placentas axile, ovules numerous. In Memecylon 

 ovary 1-celled, placenta free central, ovules few. 



Except Memecylon, the genera here described have vascular bundles, sometimes con- 

 sisting of phloem only, in the pith, and several {Melastoma, Osbeckia) have such bundles 

 (leaf-traces) in the bark also. Memecylon and Pternandra have strands of Phloem in 

 the wood. 



A. Seeds numerous. Basal nerves prominent, 3-7. 



Stamens twice the number of petals, unequal. 

 Apex of ovary bristly, fr. pulpy . . . . 1. Melastoma. 



Apex of ovary glabrous. 

 Fl. in long terminal panicles. Capsule S-ribbed. 2. Oxyspoka. 

 Fl. in axillary compound cymes. Fr. pulpy . Pternandra (p. 333). 



Stamens twice the number of petals, equal. 



Calyx-tube clothed with stellate hairs or pectinate 



scales ......... 3. Osbeckia. 



Calyx-tube glabrous. Usually epiphytic. 



Capsule 4-6-valved Kendrickia (p. 334). 



Fruit a berry . . . . . . .4. Medinilla. 



Stamens as many as petals, fl. small .... Blastits (p. 335). 



B. Seed one, rarely two, 1. penninerved . . . '.5. Memecylon. 



1. MELASTOMA, Linn.; FL Brit. Ind. ii. 523. 



Shrubs, leaves petioled, 3-7-nerved. Fl. terminal, solitar}' or in compact 

 cymes, rose or purple, usually pentamerous, calyx-tube clothed with simple 



