MELASTOMAC^B. (mELASTOMA FAMILY.) 127 



Order 41. MELASTOMACE.®. (Melastoma Family.) 



Myrtle4ike plants, with opposite ribbed leaves, and anthers opening by 

 pores at the apex ; otherwise much as in the Evening-Primrose Family. — 

 All tropical, except the genus 



1. BHEXIA, L. Deer-Gsabb. Mbadow-Beautt. 



Calyx-tube ura-shaped, coherent with the ovary below, and continued above 

 it, persistent, 4-cleft at the apex. Petals 4, convolute in the bud, oblique, in- 

 serted, along with the 8 stomens, on the summit of the calyx-tube. Anthers 

 long, 1-celled, inverted in the bud. Style 1 : stigma 1. Pod invested by the 

 permanent calyx, 4-eelled, with 4 many-seeded placentae projecting from tlie 

 central axis. Seeds coiled hke a snail-shell, without albumen. — Low perennial 

 herbs, often bristly, with sessile 3 - 5-nerved and bristle-edged leaves, and large 

 showy cymose flowers ; the petals falling early. (Name from p^^K, « rupture, 

 applied to this genus for no obvious reason.) 



« Anthers linear, carved, with a minute spur on the back at the attachment of the 

 filament above its base : flowers cymose, pedunded. 



1. R. Tii'ginica, L. Stem square, with wing-like angles; leaves opal- 

 lanceolate, acute ; petals bright purple. — Sandy swamps, Massachusetts along 

 the coast, to Virginia, Ohio, and southward. July. 



2. B. ]n[ariana, L. Stems cylindrical; leaves linear-oblong, narrowed 

 below ; petals paler. — Sandy swamps, N. Jersey, Kentucky, and southward. 



# * Anthers oblong, straight, without any spur : flowers flew, sessile. 



3. R. ciliosa, Michx. Stem square, glabrous ; leaves broadly ovate, 

 ciliate with long bristles ; calyx glabrous. — Maryland and southward. 



Order 42. LiYTHRACE^. (Loosestrife Family.) 



Herbs, with mostly opposite entire leaves, no stipules, the calyx enclosing, 

 but free from, the 1 -4-ceHerf many-seeded ovary and membranous pod, and 

 beanrig the i-l deciduous petals and 4-14 stamens on its throat ; the latter 

 lower down. Style 1 : stigma capitate, or rarely 2-lobed. — Flowers axillary 

 or whorled, rarely irregular. Petals sometimes wanting. Pod often 1- 

 celled by the early breaking away of the thin partitions : placentae in the 

 axis. Seeds anatropous, without albumen. — Branches usually 4-sided. 



Synopsis. 



* Flowers regular, or very nearly so. 

 1. AMMANNIA Calyx short, 4-angled, not striate. Petals 4, op none. Stamens 4. 

 2 LTTHRUM. Calyx tubular-cylindrical, striate. Petals 4-7. Stamens 5-14. 

 S. NES^A. Calyx short-campanulate. Stamens 10 - 14, exserted, mostly unequal. 



» * Flowers irregular : petals unequal. 

 4. CUPHEA. Calyx spurred or enlarged on one side at the base. Stamens 12. 



