540 Lx. MELASTOMACEJ!. (C. B. Clarke.) \_Sonerila. 



Stemless. Leaves less than 1 in., ovate, often acute, entire, ciliate but scarcely 

 serrate, 5-nerved from the base or the two upper nerves from the midrib ; petiole 

 i-1^ in. Peduncle 1-2J in., 1-4-flowered. Petids \ in., mauve, elliptic, acute. An- 

 thers long, narrowed upwards but scarcely acuminate. — ^Near S. vwlafoUa, and 

 possibly a hairy dwarf mountain form of it. 



SECKOif B. Stamens 6. 



42. S> beterostemon, Navd. in Ann. Sc. Nat. ser. 3. xv. 326, rvi. 

 t. JS, f. 4 ; glabrous or nearly so, leaves unequal, stamens 3 with longer fila- 

 ments and purple anthers somewhat produced at base 3 with yellow anthers not 

 produced, capsule broadly funnel-shaped sessile. 



Malacca ; Griffith, Lohb, Cuming. Sinqapobe ; Maingay. — Disteib. Malaya. 



Stems attaining 18 in., much branched, with many lateral racemes. Leaves 2-i^ in., 

 elliptic, acuminate or acute, broad often unequal at the base, entire, with 5-7 main 

 longitudinal nerves; petiole i-lj in. Racemes on short peduncles, dongate in fruit, 

 10-20-flowered. Seeds with raised points, raphe excurrent the whole length of the seed. 

 — The sessUe broad fannel-sbaped capsules readily distinguish this species. The leaves 

 are sometimes puberulous subpubescent on the nerves, and sometimes show spots on 

 the upper surface. This species is reduced to S. obliqua, Korth. Verh. Nat. Gesch. 

 Bot. p. 250 by Triana and probably correctly : but 8. obliqua Korth. is classed as tri- 

 androus by all who quote it : cf. Wq. Fl. Ind. Bat. i. pt. i. 663. ♦ 



43. S. Bensoni, Soohf. in. Bot. Mag. t. 6049; glabrous below, ped- 

 uncle upwards and raceme hairy, stamens equal, anthers all yellow not produced 

 at the base. 



Baised in London from seed sent from the Malabar Ghats by Col. Benson. 



This plant seems exactly S. specicsa (No. 20). The change of habitat and 

 forcing in rich soil in an ErigUsh stove may have developed the three stamens usually 

 suppressed in the genus (?). 



DOTJETFIIX SPECIES. . 



S. BTJLLATA, Grljf. NottU. iv. 675, from Malacca, is not identifiable. Triana 

 (Trans. Linn. Soc. xxviii. 77) thinks it may be a Driessenia, but the terminal panicle 

 points rather to AUomarphia. 



S. GLABEEBiMA, Am. in Boole. Bot. Mag. ii. 307. The specimen thus named in 

 Wight's Herbarium is jS. rhcmMfolia. We have seen no other. 



S. Helfebi, C B. ClwrJee ; stem 8 in. branched woody round rusty-pubescent, 

 leaves ^ in. elliptic acute entire 3 -nerved from the base rusty shortly pubescent on 

 both surfaces as is the petiole (J in.), racemes lateral 2-4-flowered on pedundes less 

 than ^ in., capsule ^-| in. fiinnel-shaped subsessile nearly glabrous with triangolar 

 erect teeth. — Tenassekim or Andamans, Heifer (Kew Distrib. No. 2295). 



S. MACTjLATA ; Eheede's plant (Hort. Mai. ix. t. 65) usually referred to 8. maeu- 

 lata is certainly not that plant ; it may be No. 20 S. speciosa, Zenk. 



11. SARCOFVRAiaZS, Wall. 



An erect glabrous herb ; stem quadrangular. Leaves petioled, ovate or lan- 

 ceolate, serrulate, 3-nerved. Flowers in small clusters, pedicelled or nearly 

 seasile, axillary and terminal, small, rose-purple. Calyx-twe glabrous, obpyra- 

 midal, 4-winged ; limb very short, 4-toothed. Petals 4, ovate. Stamens 8, 

 equal ; anthers oblong, scarcely produced at the base, connective appendaged at 

 the base vsdth a spur. Ovary half-adnate to the calyx, 4- celled ; style filiform ; 

 ovules very many, placentas axile. Capsule crowned with four large scales, 



