172 



41. MYRTACE/E. 



[Melastoma 



with a capitate or 4-lobed stigma. Fruit globose, fleshy, crowned 

 with the calyx-limb, many seeded. Seeds in a fleshy pulp ; coty- 

 ledons 0. 



C. arborea, Roxb. Fl. Br. Ind. II. 638; Fl. I. 2. 511; Brandis For. 

 Fl. 236 ; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 95 ; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. 205. Kaval, K. ; 

 Kumhia, huba, M. 



Sub-Himalayan tract from the Jumna eastwards, Bengal, Burma, 

 Central, Western and Sonthern India. Very common throughout the 

 presidency in deciduous forests. Fl. March- April. Fr. ripe July. 



A large deciduous tree. Bark rough, dark coloured with vertical and 

 diagonal splits, inner bark red, fibrous. Heartwood dull red, even- 

 grained, smooth and mottled. Pores small, few. Med. rays fine, numer- 

 ous, short, wavy. Weighs about 50 lbs. to the cub. ft. Seasons well ; dur- 

 able. Used for agricultural implements. 



Oeder 42. MELASTOMACE^. 



Herbs, shrubs or trees. Leaves opposite, entire, often 3-7-nerved. 

 Flowers regular, hermaphrodite. Calyx-tube united by vertical 

 walls to the ovary, rarely nearly free j limb 4-6 lobed. Petals 3 — 6, 

 imbricate. Stamens as many or twice as many as the petals, inserted 

 with them ; anthers opening by pores, rarely by slits ; connective 

 often appendaged near the base by bristles, tubercles or a spur. 

 Ovary 4-5-1 -celled ; style simple filiform rarely short; ovules several, 

 rarely only 2 to each placenta. Fruit included in the calyx-tube, 

 capsular or berried, breaking up irregularly or by slits through the 

 top of the cells. Seeds minute, many (in Memecylon only 1) ; 

 albumen 0. 



A villous shrub. Stamens dimorplioug. Seeds many. 



Leaves 8-7 palmately nerved .. ... 1. Mblastoma. 



Glabrous shrubs or trees. Stamens equal, similar. 



Berry 1-seeded. Leaves pinnate-nerved ... 2. MemecTLOS". 



l.~MELASTOMA, L. 



Strigose or villous shrubs. Leaves petioled, entire, 8-7-nerved. 

 Flowers terminal, showy, purple, 5-merous. Calyx clothed with 

 bristles, tube bell-shaped ; lobes 5. Petals usually 5. Stamens twice 

 as many as the calyx-lobes ; anthers opening by a single apical pore^ 

 very unequal, 5 larger with the connective produced below in a long 

 appendage, and 5 smaller with the basal appendage shorter or wanting. 

 Ovary 5-7-eelled more or less united to the oalyx-tube, apex bristly ; 

 style simple filiform. Fruit bursting irregularly. Seeds minute, 

 very many, minutely punctate, albumen 0. 



M. malabathricum, L. DO. Prod. III. 145 ; Fl. Br. I. 2. 623 ; Dalz. 

 & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 92. Indian Rhododendron. Falore, M. ; AnkerJci, 

 liaheri, K. ; Nankeri^ Kon. 



