MELASTOMACE^. 



577 



teeth or lobes. Whether this distinction is a constant one further 

 observation must determine. I should scarcely venture to rely upon 

 it, were it not strengthened by a difference in the venation of the 

 leaves ; which, in A. Forsteri are rather obscurely three-nerved, the 

 lateral nerves near the margin and inconspicuous; while ours are 

 manifestly triple-ribbed from just above the base, the lateral ribs 

 almost as strong as the middle one, and at some distance within the 

 margin, which moreover is provided with a slender and inconspicuous 

 nerve. The shrub is said to be about 5 feet high. The leaves have 

 a yellowish tinge when dry, especially underneath ; they are oblong, 

 abruptly acuminate, from li to 3£ inches long, more or less acute at 

 the base, on slender petioles of 8 to 12 lines long, glabrous, as is the 

 whole plant, minutely dotted underneath, apparently of a chartaceous 

 texture. Cymes corymbose, terminal, many-flowered; the bracts all 

 deciduous. Fructiferous pedicels slender, about 3 lines long. Tube of 

 the fructiferous calyx globular, and crowned with the conspicuous 

 limb, together 24 lines long, smooth. Ovary five-celled. Placentae 

 inserted at the very base of the columella, oblong, scarcely dilated 

 upwards, ovuliferous throughout. Style, &c, not seen. Capsule, as 

 in other species, not properly dehiscent, but the dry epicarp decays or 

 falls away in fragments, and the thin endocarp splits into numerous 

 pieces, leaving a frame of 10 or more, simple or forked, at length 

 stellately spreading nerves, surrounding the placentas and columella. 



Plate 72, A. — Asteonia fraterna: a branchlet. Fig. 1. Fructi- 

 ferous calyx, enlarged. 2. Vertical section of the same. 



2. Astronia Pickeringii, Sp. Nov. (Tab. 72.) 



A. glabra; foliis longe petiolatis ovalibus oblongisve utrinque subacatis 

 nunc basi obtusis 3-5-nerviis ; cyma corymbosa composita laxiflora; 

 pedicellis gracilibus; alabastris subglobosis; calycis limbo clauso 

 demum aperto ultra ovarium longiuscule producto, margine in den- 

 tibus brevissimis 9-20 irregular iter fisso; anther arum connectvvo 

 deorsum gibberoso; ovario quinqaeloculari ; placentis e fundo locu- 

 lorum ortis. 



Var. a. Samoensis : foliis siccatis viridalis, inflorescentia ramidisque 

 novellis ferrugineo-pubendis. 



145 



