.] LX. MELASTOMACEJi. (C. B. Clarke.) 617 



bristle-tfiaring scales. Anthers with a beak much longer than half their length, with 

 two tubercles at the base. Bristles on the apex of the ova/ry more than 50. Fruit 

 J-| in. broad, urn-shaped, entirely without neck; scales permanent, calyx-segments 

 deciduous. 



9. 0> stellata, Wdli. Cat. 4062 ; branches with short adpressed rigid 

 hairs, calyx-tuhe most densely covered with stellate white yellow or brown 

 hairs, teeth stellate hairy, neck of the fruit short or not exceeding half the 

 length of the fruiting ovary dilated at the top. DC. ProAr. 142 as to var. a. ; 

 Bot. Beg. t. 674 ; Sooh. Exot. Fl. i. t. 87 ; Bon Prodr. 22l,partlt/. 0. crinita, 

 Ncmd. in Arm. iSc. Nat. ser. 3. liv. 72 ; Smith in Wall. Cat. 4062 ; Kurz in 

 Journ. As. Soc. 1877, pt. ii. 75. Melastoma crinita, Boxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 402. 



T Ttwat.a ya Tbkai from Kttmaon to Bhotah, common; ascending the hills to 

 5000 ft. alt. Chittaqong ; Boxburgh. — Distbib. Canton. 



Shrub 4-6 ft. ; branches tetragonal. Leaves 3 in., lanceolate, 5-nerved, with 

 short hairs on both surfaces or in hot moist valleys glabrous, narrowed or subcordate 

 at the base ; petiole f in. Flowers large, rose-purple, clustered or in somewhat close 

 corymbs ; bracts ovate, acute, not very haiiy on the back. Calyx-tvhe so densely 

 clothed with hairs as to have a woolly appearance and texture. Bristles on the apex 

 of the ovcm/ about 20. FVuit J by J in. induding the short neck, ovoid-oblong, densely 

 wooUy. — ^Don's description of 0. stellata says the flowers are 4-5-fid ; as 5-fid flowers 

 are not known in our 0. stellata but are frequent in our 0. crinita, Don probably in- 

 cluded under one name both our species. Naudin's descriptions of 0. stellata and 0. 

 crinita only differ in assigning the long-necked fruit to 0. stellata ; therefore Naudin's 

 0. stellata is our 0. crinita. As Triana gives no descriptions or remarks, but quotes 

 both Wall. Cat. 4062 and Naudin's 0. stellata as one species, it cannot be guessed 

 which of the two forms Triana took as 0. stellata. The real distinction between 0. 

 crinita and 0. stellata lies in the extreme thick woolliness of the covering of the 

 calyx-tube in our 0. stellata : consequently Sir J. Smith has written on the original 

 Wall. Cat. 4062 (type spec.) " Osbeokia ? nov. sp. (crinita)." Sir W. J. Hooker states 

 (Exot. Fl. 1. e.) that he changed the name from 0. crinita to 0. stellata and got Don 

 to accept the name 0. stellata. Subsequently Mr. Bentham gave the name 0. crinita 

 to the next species which has a less hairy calyx. 



10. O. crinita, Benth. in Wall. Cat. 4066; branches with spreading 

 hairs, calyx-tube with many stellate rufous-brown hairs teeth stellate hairy, neck 

 of the firiut (in Wall. Oat. 4066 typical example not quite ripe) equalling or 

 exceeding the fruiting ovary much longer than its own breadth. O. stellata, 

 Don Prodr. 221, partly. 0. stellata var. 0., DC. Prodr. iii. 142'. 0. stellata, 

 Naud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 3. xiv. 72. 



SiKKiM and Bhotan, alt. 4000-8500 ft., abundant. KhasiaMts., alt. 3000-6000 ft. 

 MoTOMEiN, alt. 7000 ft. ; Parish. 



Shrub 4-8 ft., much branched. Leaves 2-4 in., lanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, 

 bristly on both surfaces, narrowed or subcordate at the base ; petiole f-| in. Flowers 

 large (generally smaller than those of 0. stellata), 4-fid and not infrequently 5-fld, 

 purple or pure white, in somewhat close corymbs ; bracts ovate, acute, usually very 

 hairy on the back. Bristles on the apex of the ovary about 20. Frvit | in. including 

 the neck, ovoid, suddenly narrowed into the cylindric neck, often nearly glabrous. — The 

 bushes of 0. crinita at Daijeeling have usually a few 5-fid flowers at &e summits of 

 the branches : and there,is a large-flowered white variety at 4000 ft. alt. which has 

 all the flowers 5-fid. 0. spemosa-. Herb. Hook. {notDon)iss. low-level form with spread- 

 ing hairs on the stem but the stellate hairs of the calyx white or yellow not rufous. 



11. O. postrata, Don iVodr. 221 ; stem quadrangular glabrous or with 

 scattered patent hairs, corymb compound large, fruit ovoid suddenly narrowed 

 into a long cylindric neck, DC. Prodr. iii. 143 ; Triana in Trans. lAnn. Soc. 

 xxviii. 53 ; Kvrs in Jmum, As. Soc: 1877, pt. ii. 74. O. ternifolia, Don Prodr. 



