31elasloma.] 



42. MELASTOMACEiE. 



173 



Throughout India from the sea level to COOO feet altitude. Through- 

 out the Konkan and North Kdnara in moist forests, often along the 

 banks of n^las near evergreen forests. Fl. and Fr. throughout the 

 year. A large shrub. Fruit globose, strigose with broad hairs, red 

 when ripe, "5 in. in diameter. Epicarp breaks ofE transversely from near 

 the base disclosing the minute, white, curved seeds imbedded in the 

 surfaces of the 5 black, succulent placentas. 



2. MEMECYLON, L. 



Leaves coriaceous, shorfc-petioled. Flowers usually small, in axillary 

 cymes, clusters or umbellets. Calyx-tube campanulafce ; limb dilated, 

 truncate or shortly 4-lobed. Petals 4, blue or white, rarely reddish. 

 Stamens 8, equal, anthers opening by slits in front, connective ending 

 in a horn behind. Ovary inferior, 1 -celled, apex glabrous, surmounted 

 by a convex or depressed disk with 8 radiating grooves; ovules 6-12, 

 whorled, on a free central placenta. Berry globose, crowned with the 

 calyx-margin, 1-seeded. Seed large, cotyledons convolute or variously 

 folded. 



Trees. Pedunclea Oj pedicels under J inch. 

 Flowers clustered. 

 Branchlets acutely quadrangular. Leaves cor- 

 date, subsessile I. M. Wightii. 



Branchlets round. Leaves amplexicaul ... 2, M. amplexioctule. 

 Trees or shrubs. Flowers in peduncled cymes ; 

 pedicels short or long. Branchlets round. 



fcmall shrub. Peduncles long, 1-3 from same 



axil ; pedicels urabelled ... 3. Jf. terminale. 



Tree. Flowers in a compact cyme ; peduncles 

 short J pedicels very short, slender 4. M. edule. 



1» M. Wightii, Thw. Enam. 113 ; Fl. Br. L 2. 554. 



"Western Peninsula and Ceylon. Alt. 3 — 4000 feet. North Kdnara in 

 evergreen forests, common in the forests near the Dodmune ghat. Fl. 

 0. and H. S. A small tree. Bark same as that of M, edule. Wood light 

 OP dark grey, hard, smooth, heavy, close-grained. Annual rings distinctly 

 marked by a layer of dark tissue. Pores very small in patches of white 

 tissue. Medullary rays fine, uniform, numerous. Weighs 60 lbs. to the 

 cubic ft. 



2. M. amplexioaule, Roxb. PI. Ind. IL 260 ; PI. Br. I. 2. 659; 

 Wight. Ic. t. 279. Var. malaharioa. M, depressum^ Benth. Limba, M, ; 

 LoGUndij limbtoliy K. 



Nilghiris, mountains of Coorg, etc. In the evergreen forests of North 

 Kanara on the Yellapur ghats. PI. C. S. Pr. H. S. A small tree. 

 Specimens sent to Kew in 1882 from N. Kanara were named as above by 

 Prof. Oliver. 



3. M. terminale, I>alz. in Hook. Kew Jour. III. 121 ; Fl. Br. T. 2, 

 668 ; Dalz. & Gibs. Bomb. Fl. 98. 



