MELASTOMACEJE. 73 



pored. Ovary ovato-oblong, crowned with a 

 thick glabrous callous disk. Stigma peltate or 

 capitate. Capsule dry, indehiscent, 5-celled : 

 seeds ovate. 



Name from SivXoos double, and j^irwv a coat of mail, or 

 covering; in allusion to the pair of biacteoles wrapped 

 around the young flower. 



1. Diplochita Swartziana. Swartz's Diplo- 

 chita. 



Branches subterete, as also the petioles pedun- 

 cles and under surface of the leaves furnished 

 with a minute stellated incano-rufescent pube- 

 scence, leaves oblongo-elliptic acuminate 5-nerved 

 entire, thyrse strict, bractea? deciduous, calyx 

 externally stellato-pruinose, petals 5-6, stamens 

 10-14. 



Grossularise fructu arbor maxima non spinoso, fructu 

 majori, Shane, II. 84. — Melastoma Tamonea, Swartz, Jtl, 

 Ind. Occ. 783— M. Swartziana, Richard in Bonpl. Mel. t. 

 33.— Diplochita Swartziana, DC. Prod. III. 177. 



H A B. Port Royal and St. Andrew's Mountains. 



FL. January, February. 



A tree-like shrub, 15-20 feet in height : branches spread- 

 ing. Leaves attenuato-acuminate, 5-nerved besides a mar- 

 ginn! pair, dark green and glabrous above, rufescent and 

 stellato-pubescent and farinose beneath, 3-4 inches long: 

 petiole rather long. Thyrse a foot in length. Flowers 

 showy, pedicelled, in threes. Bractese 2, so large as to 

 cover up the flower previous to opening, broad-oval, 

 longitudinally nerved, pruinose with a minute stellated 

 pubescence, deciduous. There are also minute ovate 

 deciduous bractese in pairs at the division into the three 

 pedicels. Calyx urceolate, externally stellato-pruinose: 

 limb 5-6-dentate with the teeth blunt: throat with a circle 

 ot 10-12-14 tufis of silky pubescence, marking the inter- 

 stices between the points of insertion of the filaments. 

 Petals 5-6. oblong, white, delicately veined with crimson. 



Vol. 2. e * 



