BOTANY. 159 
and separate from the tube like a lid. Petals equal to the segments of the 
calyx, perigynous, estivation twisted. Stamens equal in number to the 
petals, and alternate with them, usually with intermediate sterile ones; 
filaments curved downwards in the young state; anthers long, often beaked, 
bilocular, dehiscing by two terminal pores, or longitudinally. Ovary more 
or less adherent to the calyx, plurilocular; ovules usually 00; style one: 
stigma simple, either capitate or minute. Fruit plurilocular, either capsular, 
with loculicidal dehiscence, or succulent, combined with the calyx and 
indehiscent. Seeds «, minute, attached to central placentas, exalbuminous ; 
embryo, straight or curved; cotyledons sometimes unequal, flat, or 
convolute. Trees, shrubs, or herbs, with opposite, undivided, usually 
entire, often three- to nine-ribbed leaves, not dotted. They are found 
chiefly in warm climates. Many are natives of America and India. There 
are no unwholesome plants in the order, and the succulent fruit of several 
species is edible. A slight degree of astringency pervades all the plants of 
the order, and hence some are used medicinally, in cases of diarrhea. The 
name Melastoma is derived from the circumstance that the fruit of some 
dyes the lips black. . 
Tribe 1. Lavoisieriee. . Anthers opening by one or two pores. Ovary 
free, usually smooth at the summit. Fruit capsular. Seeds straight, ovoid, 
or angular. Species all American (none in North America). Example : 
Meriania. | 
Tribe 2. Rhexiee. Anthers opening by a single pore. Ovary free, 
usually smooth at the summit. Fruit capsular. Seeds reniform. Species 
all American (Rhexia, with eight species, the only North American). 
Example: *Rhexia. 
Tribe 3. Osbeckiee. Anthers opening by a single pore. Ovary free or 
adherent, usually surmounted by set, or scales. Fruit capsular or fleshy. 
Seeds reniform. Old and New World. Example: Osbeckia. 
Tribe 4. Miconiee. Anthers opening by one or two pores. Ovary 
adherent. Fruit fleshy. Seeds straight. Plants mostly American. 
Example : Cidemia. 
Tribe 5. Charianthee. Anthers opening by longitudinal slits. Ovary 
adherent. Fruit generally fleshy. Seeds straight. Plants American or 
Asiatic. Example: Astronia. 
Lindley gives 118 genera and 1200 species as belonging to this order. 
Melastoma malabathricum, Malabar (pl. 69, fig. 18). 
Orper 147. Compretacea, the Myrobalan Family. Calyx four- or five- 
lobed, lobes deciduous. Petals arising from the orifice of the calyx, 
alternate with the lobes, or wanting. Stamens epigynous, twice as many 
as the lobes of the calyx, rarely equal in number, or thrice as many ; 
filaments distinct, subulate ; anthers dithecal, dehiscing longitudinally, or by 
recurved valves. Ovary adherent to the tube of the calyx, unilocular; 
ovules two to four, pendulous; style one; stigma simple. Fruit succulent 
or nut-like, inferior, unilocular, indehiscent, often winged. Seed solitary, 
pendulous, exalbuminous; cotyledons leafy, usually convolute, sometimes 
plicate ; radicle turned towards the hilum. Trees or shrubs, with alternate 
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