melastomacejE. (melastoma family.) 181 



awl-shaped, and conspicuous on the hose of the i-sided somewhat top-shaped pod, 

 which is longer than the calyx-lobes. — Swamps, Michigan to Illinois, Ken- 

 tucky, and southward. 



5. L. line^is, Walt. Slender, mostly low ; leaves narrowly linear, those 

 of the short runners obovate ; minute petals usually present ; bractlets minute at 

 the base of the elongated top-shaped i-sided pod, which is 3" long and much longer 

 than the calyx-lobes. — Bogs, pine barrens of New Jersey and southward. 



6. L. cylindrica, Ell. Much branched; leaves oblong- or spatulate- 

 lanceolate, much tapering at the base, or even petioled ; bractlets very minute at 

 the base of the cylindrical pod, which is 3" long, and several times exceeds the 

 calyx-lobes. — Mound City, S. Illinois, Dr. Vasey, and southward. 



» * Leaves all opposite: stems creeping or floating. 



7. L. pallistris, Ell. (Water Purslane.) Smooth : leaves ovate or 

 oval, tapering into a slender petiole ; petals none, or small and reddish when the 

 plant grows out of water ; calyx-lobes very short ; pods oblong, 4-sided, not ta- 

 pering at the base, sessile in the axils (2" long). (Isnardia palustris, L.) — 

 Ditches : common. (Eu.) 



8. L. arcukta, Walt. Smooth, small and creeping ; leaves oblanceolate, 

 nearly sessile; flowers solitary, long-peduncled ; petals yellow, exceeding the 

 calyx (3" long) ; pods oblong-club-shaped, somewhat curved d' long). — 

 Swamps, Eastern Virginia and southward. 



Order 40. MELASTOMACEJE. (Melastoma Family.) 



Plants with opposite 3 - 7-ribbed leaves, and definite stamens, the anthers 

 opening by pores at the apex ; otherwise much as in the Evening-Primrose 

 Family. — All tropical, except the genus 



1. RHEXIA, L. Deee-Grass. Meadow-Beauty. 



Calyx-tube urn-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 stamens, on the summit of the calyx-tube. Anthers 

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

 permanent calyx, 4-celled, with 4 many-seeded placentse projecting from the 

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

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

 showy cymose flowers ; in summer ; the petals falling early. (Name from prices, 

 a rupture, applied to this genus for no obvious reason. ) 



* Anthers linear, curved, with a minute spur on the back at the attachment of the 

 filament above its base : flowers cymose, peduncled. 



1 . R. Virginica, L. Stem square, with wing-like angles ; leaves oval- 

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

 Penn., Wisconsin, Illinois, and southward. 



2. R. Mariana, L. Stems cylindrical ; leaves linear-oblong, narrowed below ; 

 petals paler. — Sandy swamps. New Jersey, Kentucky, and southward. 



