MYRTACEiE. 541 



peduncles, occasionally geminate, are either one-flowered, or two- 

 flowered (the intermediate flower wanting), or more commonly three- 

 flowered, as described. Sometimes the inflorescence becomes terminal 

 and somewhat racemose on the branches, by the reduction of the 

 upper leaves to bracts. The conspicuous linear-subulate bractlets 

 are persistent. The leaves occasionally become alternate. — The 

 name imposed by Colla is of the same date as that of Hooker and 

 Arnott. 



5. Luma obtusa. (Tab. 66.) 



L. foliis ovato-ellipticis vel subrotundis utrinque obtusis coriaceis planis 

 punctatis glabris subtus pallidis uninerviis aveniis, petiolis ramiditque 

 junioribus rufo-pubentibus ; pedunculis solitariis unifloris folium 

 cequantibus ; bracteolis persistentibus oblongis foliaceis lobos 4 col yds 

 oblongo-ovcdes patentes adwquantibus ; cotyledonibus contortuplicatis. 



Eugenia obtusa, DC. Prodr. 3, p. 266 ? 



Myrtus Raran, Colla, in Mem. Acad. Turin. 37, p. 66, ex char. 



Hab. Chili ) on hills or in ravines, near Valparaiso. 



A low shrub, apparently only a foot or two in height ; the branches 

 very leafy; the younger brcmchlets ferrugineous with a close and fine 

 pubescence, of which the distinct petioles (scarcely a line long), 

 peduncle and calyx-tube partake, but even the nascent foliage shows 

 only slight traces of it. The leaves, however, are somewhat ferru- 

 gineous in hue underneath when young: they are thick and coria- 

 ceous, flat (the margins not revolute), glabrous and punctate both sides, 

 green above, pale beneath, where they are one-nerved with a rather 

 conspicuous midrib, but wholly veinless; in shape they are ovate-ellip- 

 tical, varying to roundish or to oblong, very obtuse at both ends, from 3 

 to 7 lines long, and from 2 to 4 lines broad. Peduncles solitary, axil- 

 lary, one-flowered, about the length of the leaf, at the apex furnished 

 with two persistent bractlets, which are larger in proportion than in 

 other species, linear-spatulate or oblong, foliaceous, equalling the 

 flower, or at least the 4 spreading, oblong-oval lobes of the calyx. 

 Flowers, only seen after the fall of the petals and stamens, apparently 

 twice or thrice the size of those of L. ferruginea. Ovary many- 



136 



