MBLASTOMACEiE. 261 



miDute stigma. — Melastoina, Sw. I Sagrsea neurocarpa, Naud. Osseea micrantha, Mac/. 

 — A slender shi-ub, 2' high ; leaves 4"-6" long, comparatively large, membranaceous, shortly 

 tapering at both ends, crenulate-repand or subentire: petiole 8"'-12"' long; cymes tricho- 

 tomous, divaricated: pedicels shorter than the flower or equalling it, buthy growth three times 

 longer than the berry ; calyx 1'" long, narrow ; petals equalling the length of the calyx, 

 white, with a red blot at the base ; berry 1'" diam., globose, "white," greenish in a younger 

 state and then octagonal by the paler-coloured ribs. — ^Hab. Jamaica I, in the central and 

 western mountains ; Pd., AL, Wils., WullacU., at 2000'. 



16. CBBMANIUM, Bon, reform. 

 (MiconiiE sp., Navd. Ossegec sp., DC) 



Calyx turbinate or semiglobose : limb reduced : teeth short, bluntish or obsolete. An- 

 thers 10-8-4, obovate, truncate, inflexed above the ovary, tailed, opening with 4 or 2 termi- 

 nal pores, or the pores confluent into a single foramen : filaments jointed at the knee with the 

 deeply inflexed', tapering tail ; cells subconnected above, without special furrow. Ovary ad- 

 herent, crowned with a glabrous neck or umbilicated at the top.^Shrubs or low trees, 

 usually glabrous ; panicles or corymbiform cymes terminal or axillary : flowers minute : 

 peiieels jointed and bibracteolate ut the tap, or none ; petals 4-5, otovate, blunt. 



This natural genus, erroneously characterized by the variable number of the pores of the 

 anther, is distinguished from Miconia by the peculiar tail of this organ, which often assumes 

 the shape of a connective, bearing the short cells on its upper part. The number of anther- 

 pores is difi^erently descriljed by different authors often in the same species : but the fact is, 

 that the very narrow dissepiments do not present the same growth in all flowers, and may 

 sometimes disappear with development : thus iu the same panicle of C. rubens I observe 4 

 and 2 pores, and in other flowers the dissepiments evanescent. 



* Cymes axillary or lateral. 



69. C. virgatum, Gr. Glabrous ; leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, triplinerved ; 

 cymes corymbiform, lateral ; lateral pedicels slender, as long as the flower ; anthers 8 : tail 

 without appendage ; stigma minute, blunt ; berry 4-locular, not ribbed. — Melastoma, Sw. ! 

 Sagrsea, Macf. Osssea purpurascens, Macf. I (an DC. ?). — A low tree, 20-25' high, or 

 shrubby : branchlets obtuse-angled, with the under side of leaf-ribs purple-coloured ; leaves 

 3"-6" long, l"-li" broad, papery or somewhat leathery, polished above, denticulate or 

 entire: veins transverse ; petiole 6"'- 1 2'" long; cymes l"-2" long, loose: bracteoles mi- 

 nute ; calyx 1"' long ; tube turbinate ; petals 4, equalling the length of the calyx ; anther- 

 pores 1-2 ; style exceeding the corolla ; berry (2''' long) ovate. — Melastoma purpurascens, 

 Sw. (Osssea, JiC, Miconia ossaeseformis, Naud.), is unknown to me, but it was considered 

 by MTadyen to be our plant : the description however disagrees, by the inflorescence nearly 

 equaUiug the leaves, the leaves less triplinerved, and. their veins approximate. — Hab, Jamai- 

 ca !, in mountain woods, Sw., Macf, March, Wils. 



70. C. amygdalinum, Gr. Glabrous; leaves elliptical or elliptical-lanceolate, 

 triplinerved ; cymes racemiform, lateral or axillary : pedicels short or none ; anthers 8-10 : 

 tail without appendage ; stigma capitate ; berry 4-5-locnlar. — Bonpl. Mel. i. 37 : a form 

 with serrate leaves; #. 36 : the same with reduced cymes in fruit. — Melastoma, Desr., 

 Bonpl. Ossaea amygdaliua, multiflora, acuminata, DC. 0. brachystachya, integrifolia, 

 Naud. ! Henriettea racemosa, Macf. ? Creman. axillare, Macf. — A shrub, 2'-10' high : 

 branchlets obtuse-angled ; leaves 2''--4" long, often pointleted, but variable in the form, the 

 margin either serrulate or entire, the distance of the lateral ribs from the base, and the veins 

 either transverse or oblique : axils of nerves usually with a small tuft of hairs : petiole 3'"— 

 8'" long i cymes usually 1" long, exceeded by the leaf, simply or twice divided : ultimate 

 flowers ternate, either clustered or shortly fascicled, vrith thickish pedicels and minute, deci- 

 duous bracteoles ; calyx snbglobose, rounded at the base, ^"' loug ; petals 4-5, equalling the 

 length of the calyx, white ; anther-pores 2. Flowers sometimes polygamous, or dioecious, 

 as ai-e those of C. rubens. — Hab. Jamaica !, March, Al., Wils., in mountain woods, at 2000' 

 alt. ; [Cuba ! to Venezuela]. 



** Panicle terminal (sometimes accessory ones from the axils). 



71. O. rubens, DG. Glabrous; leaves elliptical or elliptical-lanceolate, pointed, tri- 



