192 PHANEROGAMIA. 



2. Melochia (Visenia) odorata, Linn. f. 



M. foliis ovatis subcordatis serratis glabrls vel glabellis; cymis ramulisque 

 tomentulosis ; floribus pallide purpureis; capsular hirsutce coccis cus- 

 pidato-apiculatis ; seminibus apice truncatis exalatis. 



Melochia odorata, Linn. f. Suppl. p. 302; Forst. Prodr. Fl. Ins. Austr. p. 47; Cav. 



Diss. 6, p. 320, t. 173. 

 Riedleia odorata, DC. Prodr. 1, p. 491, excl. syn. Gmel. & Houtt. 



Hab. Savaii, one of the Samoan Islands; common. A specimen 

 is also ticketed "Tahiti;" perhaps by some transposition, since it is 

 not alluded to in Dr. Pickering's notes, nor have any other collectors 

 met with it in the Society Islands. 



"A middle-sized tree." Leaves ovate, more or less acuminate, sub- 

 cordate, or the smaller ones truncate or obtuse at the base, finely 

 serrate, membranaceous in texture, glabrous, except a minute pubes- 

 cence on the vein s, or when young on the surfaces also, 3 to 5 inches 

 long; the petioles 2 or 3 inches in length, minutely tomentose. 

 Cymes axillary, compound, many-flowered, on peduncles longer than 

 the petioles, which, like the branchlets, calyx, &c, are minutely tomen- 

 tose. Petals spatulate, about twice the length of the calyx, "pale 

 purple." Stamens nearly as long as the petals: filaments monadel- 

 phous only near the base, dilated or membranaceously winged for 

 one-third of their length, and nearly the whole dilated portion adnate 

 to the contracted base of the petal ; the free upper portion filiform : 

 anthers oblong, two-celled. Ovary five-lobed, five-celled, very hirsute : 

 styles shorter than the stamens, hirsute towards the base. (Other 

 individuals apparently produce shorter filaments and longer styles.) 

 Capsule hirsute, ovoid, 3 or 4 lines long, deeply five-lobed, the 5 

 carpels cuspidate-pointed with the short and persistent base of the 

 styles, partially septicidal; the carpels opening from the apex by both 

 sutures. Seeds solitary or in pairs (superposed), a line and a half 

 long, gibbous, with the sraoothish testa conformed to the nucleus 

 except at the narrowly membranaceous rhaphe, and at the chalaza, 

 which is truncate and somewhat cellular-appendaged or thickened, 



