MELASTOMACE^. 253 



Pogonorrliynchus sessilis, Cfueg. I P. amplexans, CrJ: a form with the leaf-base auricled 

 and the auricles clasping. — A tree, 30' high, but reduced sometimes to low, shrubby 

 forms ; branches and panicle tomentose with stellate down ; leaves 6"-24" long, turning 

 black in drying above, with a greyish or rusty persistent down beneath : the lateral nerves 

 separating above the cuneate base ; panicle racemiform : bracteoles short, deciduous ; calyx- 

 tube campanulatc, produced beyond the ovary : teeth short, rounded, with a tubercle on the 

 outside; petals white, with blue filaments and red. anthers; anthers densely glandular at 

 the base on the anterior side ; berry blue : seeds angular, with the testa somewhat rugose, — 

 HAB.'Trinidad !, Or. ; [Guiana !, where it is common ; Brazil !]. 



9. CONOSTEGIA, Bon; Nautl.{l. c. U.p. 105). 



Calyx operculate : closed operculum falling away from the truncate, cupuliform tube. Jn- 

 thers lO-subindefinite, oblong, inflezed above the ovary, opening with a single terminal 

 pore : cells distinct below the top. Qvary adherent, crowned with a glabrous neck, encir- 

 cling the base of the style : stigma capitate. . Seeds obovate. — Shrubs or trees, usually not 

 hispid; \enves peiioled ; panicle terminal. 



* Panicle simply divided; flowers large. 



38. C. procera, Don. Glabrous ; leaves elliptical-oblong, subtriplinerved ; primary 

 branches of the panicle 3-1-flowered, with the lateral pedicels jointed at the middle; 

 operculum, conical and abruptly pointleted : the point bluntish ; petals 6-5, obliquely, obo- 

 vate, twice the length of the calyx-tube ; anthers 18-10 : connective with a minute tubercle 

 on the back above the base. — Bonpl. Mel. t. 51. — Melastoma, Sw. I — A tree, according to 

 Swartz and Purdie 40'-50' high, but much varying in growth ; leaves 2"— 5f' long, entire : 

 axils of nerves somewhat bearded ; calyx, before its opening, 6"'-8"' long ; petals rosy or 

 white ; ovary 6-9-locular. — A remarkable variety exists in the form of a twining shrub, on 

 which Dr. Alexander remarks : " Though in a dried state impossible to distinguish, yet, as 

 they grow, the one is like a Horse-Chestnut, the other twining round trees and bushes like a 

 Woodbine." This latter I believe I recognize in specimens collected by Mr. March, and 

 would characterize thus : — 



;8. Balbisiana, DC. Leaves oval and blunt with a point ; calyx shorter (5'" long) : oper- 

 culum blunt (without the point of a) ; stigma smaller, not exceeding in breadth the thickened 

 style'. — C. glorjosa/ Mac/., seems to be a form vrith narrower leaves. 



Hae. Jamaica I, aU coll., in mountain woods. , 



39. C. rufescens, Naud. Branchlets and panicle covered with a rusty, mealy down. ; 

 leaves elliptical-oblong, tapering and cuspidate, triplinerved ; primary branches of the -pa- 

 nicle 3-7-flowered, with the pedicels shorter than the flowers and without articulation ; calyx 

 rusty ; operculum conical, bluntish ; petals 6, obliquely obovate, about the length of the 

 calyx-tube; anthers 18 or fewer. — C. formosa, Macf.^k shrub, about 13' high : branchlets 

 obtuse-angled ; leaves 3"-4" long, obsoletely crenate or entire ; calyx, before its opening, 

 3"'_5"' long ; ovary 6-locular : stigma peltate. — Hab. Jamaica !, Pd,, in woods of the eastern 

 districts. 



40. C. subhirsuta, DC, Branchlets and panicle-covered with a setose down ; leaves 

 elliptical or elliptical-oblong, pointleted, triplinerved; panicle oorymbiform ; divisions 8-7- 

 flowered: pedicels shorter than the flowers and without articulation; calyx glabrfescent: 

 operculum convex, quite blunt; petals 10-6, obliquely obovate; anthers 20 or subindelinite. 

 — Melastoma arborescens, Sieb.Mart. 119! {nonAuil.). — Ashnib, 10'-16'high: branchlets 

 subcompressed ; leaves 4"-10" long, obsoletely crenate or entire ; calyx before its opening 

 nearly globose or obovate, 3"'-4"' diara. ; petals white ; ovary 20-lZ-locular : stigma peltate. 



Hab. Jamaica!, Waters, in mountain woods; Dominica!, Imr. ; Trinidad!, Pd., Or.; 



[Cuba, iPrench' islands ! ; Mexico, New Granada]. 



** Panicle compound ; flowers smaller. 



41. c. superba, Naud. Glabrous ; leaves ovate or oval, subtriplinerved ; secondary 

 branches of the panicle ending with a 3-5-flowered, nmbelliform cyme : the pedicds equal- 

 ling the flower ; operculum continuous with the calyx-tube, conical, pointed ; petals 5-6, 



