Otomfhera.'] Lx. MBLASTOMACBiB, (C B. Clarke.) 523 



BXCLTIDED SPECIES. 



0. STTBBO-XIMBA.TA {Locknopodivm rtiiro-limbaium, JBlvme) is figured by Link 

 & Otto, le. PI. Set. t. 41, as a plant raised in European gardens from the "East 

 Indies." It is more likely from Malaya than India, and Mr. Bentham in Fl. Austral. 

 iii. 292 thinks it probably identical with Otanthera bracUata. 



0. KoTi-GTjEDA, Natid. u| Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 3. xiv. 64, is reduced to 0. Wightianft 

 by Triana ; but Naudin deswibes its calyx-teeth short. 



3. ZttEXiASTOXIKA, Lmn. 



Strigose or villous shrubs. Leaves petioled, oblong; or lanceolate, entire, 

 3-7-nerved. Flowers terminal, solitary clustered or panicled, showy, purple, 6- 

 (rarely 6-7-) merous. CcHyx-tuhe with simple (rarely with penicillate) hairs, 

 lobes deciduous. Petals equal in number to the calyx-lobes. Stamens twice as 

 many as the petals, very unequal, alternate longer ones with purple anthers 

 having the connective long-produced at base and terminating in two lobes, the 

 shorter ones having yellow anthers the connective not produced but with two 

 tubercles in front. Ovary more or less united to the calyx-tube, 6- (rarely 6-7-) 

 celled, apex bearing bristles; style filiform, simple; ovules very numerous, 

 placentas axile, radiating. Fndt coriaceous or somewhat berried, bursting 

 irregularly. Seeds minute, very many, curved through half a circle, minutely 

 punctate. — Distkeb. Species 40 or- 8 in South-East Asia and its islands, ex- 

 tending to North Auslxalia and Polynesia. 



* Sairs closely adpressed at their base to the ealyx-tube. 



1. nx. malabathrlcum, 'lAnn. ; DC. Prodr. iii. 146 ; stems vtdth short 

 dense hairs adpressed or spreading, leaves with adpressed scabrous hairs above, 

 scabrous on the nerves beneath and shortly hairy or nearly glabrous between 

 them, bracts large elliptic narrowed into a stalk generally enclosing the buds, 

 scaly hairs on the calyx-tube flat lanceolate, calyx-teeth long (or very long) 

 ovate-lanceolate to narrow-lanceolate, glabrous vrithin or with a few short hairs 

 near the tip only. Roxh. Hort Beng. 33 ; Fl. Ind. ii. 406 ; Wall Cat. 4040 ; 

 Sot. Reg. t. 672 ; W. ^ A. Prodr. 324 ; Wight III. t. 95 ; Dalz. ^ Oibs. Bomb. 

 Fl. 92; Naud. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 3. xiii. 286; Thwaites Fnum. 106 

 (a. and /3.) ; Kurz For. Fl. i. 503, not cf Miq. Fl. Ind. Bat. i. pt. i. 507. 

 r M. obvolutum. Jack in Trans. Idnn. Soc.xiv. 3. Trembleya rhinanthera, Griff". 

 Mtul. iv. 677, cf. Kurz in Flora, 1871, p. 289. 



Throughout India very abundant, from sea-level up to 6000 ft. alt. " Indian 

 Rhododendron " of the English denizens. Not towards the Indian Desert. — Distsib. 

 Not found out of India : i.e. the above description has been narrowed to the Indian 

 typical plant which is not found in Malaya, ete. 



A spreading shrub 6 ft. Leaves 3-4 in., broad-lanceolate; petiole f in. Flowers 

 1-5, clustered, mauve-purple. Fruit ^ in. wide, short-ovoid, truncate, becoming 

 pulpy within. Calyx-teeth often ^| in., not shorter than the tube. — Mr. Bentham 

 in Fl. Austral, iii. 293 proposes to include 24 species of Naudin under M. mala- 

 bathncum, Linn. 



Vab. adpressum, Wall. Cat. 4081 ; leaves narrow-lanceolate smaller than in M. 

 malabathncum with a rigid more harshly scabrid pubescence. M. anoplanthum .ffizm?. 

 in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. vol. xiii. 277. — ^Mergui to Singapore, and in Penang. The Java 

 plant under this name in the Kew Herbarium is as different fl;on> Wall. Cat. 4081 as 

 is any Melastoma in this section. 



2. nx. polyantlium, Blume in Mus. Bot. i. 52, t. 6 ; stems with short 

 dense hairs adpressed or spreading, leaves with short bairs above adpressed or 



