92 PLANTS OF PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND. 



Stam : shrubby, branchy, about six feet high. Branches 

 scattered, round, pubescent. Leaves opposite, decussated, 

 lanceolate, most entire, scabrous, villous, five nerved ; the 

 outer nerves more slender near the margin of the leaf, petioles 

 short, round, spreading, villous. Flowers terminal, pedun- 

 cled, about four, large, purple. Peduncles very short round, 

 erect, villous. Bracts two, at the root of each peduncle, 

 ovate, concave, concave, covering the calyx, deciduous. Calyx 

 perianth one leafed, bell- shaped, five cleft, imbricated with lan- 

 ceolate, silky scales, of a greenish purple colour. Corolla, petals 

 five, wedge-shape, obtuse, sessile, erect, inserted into the throat 

 of the calyx, between its segments. Stam : as in the last 

 species. Pist : Germ ovate, villous, in the belly of the calyx, 

 style thread form, erect, longer than the corolla, stigma obtuse. 

 Berry globular, five celled, wrapped up in the calyx, which 

 converges with a five angled mouth. Seeds very numerous 

 minute, nestling on the exterior convex surface of the pulp in 

 each cell. Obs : when the fruit is ripe the calyx opens in a 

 circular form round the base, and leaves the pulp uncovered. 



It is a very common shrub abounding everywhere on the 

 road side ; and is one of the first that springs up on ground 

 which has been cleared of the large timber. 



3. Melastoma osbeekioides, H. (Dissochaeta punctulata Hook.). 



Shrubby, scandent ; Leaves five nerved, with transverse 

 parallel streaks, cordate, ovate, acuminate, most entire, smooth ; 

 calyx smooth, obscurely four toothed, flowers octandrous ; 

 Panicles axillary and terminal. 



Stam : twining, knotted, round, smooth. Leaves oppo- 

 site, petioled, reclining ; cordate, ovate, acuminate, most entire, 

 smooth, five nerved, with transverse parallel streaks, peti- 

 oles : short, channelled above, smooth, widely spreading. 

 Peduncles axillary and terminal, round, smooth, forming 

 a lax panicle : partial peduncles opposite, brachiate, spreading, 

 generally three flowered. Flowers middle sized, whitish. 

 Calyx pitcher-shape, obscurely four cleft, smooth. Corolla, 

 petals four, ovate, obtuse, white with the margin reddish. 

 Stam : Filaments eight ; anthers long, subulate, refracted, 



Jour. Straits Branch 



