MtfLASTOMACEiE. 39 



Jam. 217. t. 22. f. 1.— Rhexia Acisanthera, WiUd.lL 



3 ° 3 ' V ^^S^^t^^.^c^O . 



HAB. Pastures, St. -Thomas in the Vale Vale of 

 Lluida. 



F L. Autumn. 



Herbaceous, about a foot in height, erect : branches 

 few, tetragonal. Leaves small, ovate, 3-nerved, crenated. 

 Flowers axillary, alternate, solitary, white, peduncled. 

 Petals 5, obovate. 



, ORDER LXXV. MELASTOMACEjE. 



Calycine lobes 4, 5, or 6. Petals equal in num- 

 ber to the segments of the calyx, arising from their 

 base, or from the edge of a membranseform disk, 

 adnate to the tube of the calyx $ during aestiva- 

 tion twisted. Stamens usually twice as many as 

 the petals, sometimes equal to them in number: 

 filaments during aestivation replicato-inflected, 

 with the anthers between the tube of the calyx 

 and the ovary 5 assurgent on the opening of the 

 flower : anthers long, bilocular, generally open- 

 ing by 1-2 pores at the apex, rarely bursting lon- 

 gitudinally. Ovary more or less concrete to the 

 calyx : style I : stigma simple : a cup often pre- 

 sent on the apex of the ovary, surrounding the 

 insertion of the style. Pericarp either dry and 

 distinct from the calyx, or succulent and con- 

 crete with the calyx, many-celled : placentae at- 

 tached to a central column. Seeds innumerable, 

 minute, with a brittle testa, and no albumen ] 

 embryo straight : cotyledons unequal. 



Tree or shrubs, rarely herbaceous. Leaves opposite, 

 undivided, with several strong nerves or ribs, running 



