MelastomacecB.~\ 



MEXICO.— SUPPLEMENT. 



423 



part of the plant is clothed. The specimens gathered by Dr Sinclair are rather more glaucous than our former 

 ones, and the large calyx does not in general exhibit so deep a tinge of purple, though that circumstance is 

 very variable. — Our var. /3. has some of the leaves of the stem three inches long, but the upper ones are much 

 reduced in size, and so imbricated as to give the appearance of a dense bracteated spike to the flowers. 



2. C. floribunda, Hook, et Am. supra, p. 289. 



Hab. San Bias to Tepic. — Copious specimens of this fine species are in the present collection, exhibiting 

 all the peculiarities we have mentioned in our specific character. It is a tall growing species. Leaves 

 2-3 inches long, exceedingly rough to the touch. The flowering branches often run out to a great length, 

 (10 inches or a foot) and bear small, distant, but opposite, narrow-lanceolate, braeteiform leaves. - 



3. C. bracteata, Hook, et Am. supra, p. 289. — an C. bracteata ? Lag. et De Cand. 2. 

 p. 88. 



Hab. San Bias and Tepic. — The C. bracteata of Lagasca is a Mexican species, of which the brief descrip- 

 tion given by De Candolle tolerably accords with our plant. The stems and branches are woody and the 

 bark readily peels off in large flakes. The leaves are little more than half an inch long. 



Ord. XVIII. MELASTOMACE^S. Juss. 

 1 . Heterocentron Mexicanum, Hook, et Am. supra, p. 290. 



Hab. San Bias to Tepic. — Better specimens than we formerly possessed of this plant, enable us to give, in 

 the following words, its more obvious characters : — fruticosa, ramis tetragonis glabriusculis, foliis ovatis 

 oblique penninerviis brevi-petiolatis integerrimis pubescenti-setosis, floribus in ramis pluribus brevibus 

 corymbosis paniculam formantibus, calyce 4-fido tubo ovato lsevi setis copiosis apice glandulosis tecto 

 lobis lanceolato-acuminatis glabris, staminibus 8, 4 majoribus basi longissime bicornis, 4 basi paululum con- 



strictis appendiculis nullis, capsula glaberrima basi calyci adhasrente This plant has a woody stem, in 



our present specimens a foot and more long, with opposite square branches. Leaves, the largest of them, 

 scarcely an inch long, on very short petioles, ovate, acute, or rather obtuse, entire, obliquely and constantly 

 penninerved, the nerves all springing from the midrib and directed upwards, above and at the margin spar- 

 ingly setose with short hairs, beneath paler coloured and the hairs chiefly confined to the costa and nerves. 

 The upper branches are short, and bear leafy corymbs of few, rather small-sized flowers ; the collected flower- 

 ing branches thus forming a leafy corymbose panicle. Calyx 4-cleft, the tube ovate, slightly contracted at the 

 mouth, even (not ribbed), clothed with spreading seta?, which are terminated with a viscid gland ; lobes of the 

 calyx lanceolate, acuminate, spreading, destitute of setae. Petals 4, obovato-rotund, ciliated. Stamens 8, 4 

 larger of which the anthers are linear-oblong, furnished at the base with 2 long horns or fleshy setae ; the 4 

 smaller ones are destitute of those horns, and are only slightly constricted at the base so as there to form a sort 

 of tubercle. Ovary broadly ovate, quite glabrous, the lower half incorporated with the base of the tube ot 

 the calyx, the rest free; style filiform or slightly clavate. The whole plant has a blackish hue when dry. 



1. Chaetogastra ? ferruginea ; tota setis nitidis ferrugineis appressis tecta, ramis obtuse 

 tetragonis, foliis oblongo-lanceolatis petiolatis integerrimis 3-5-nerviis, panicula terminal! 

 fbliosa subcorymbosa, calyce 5-fido, tubo ovato 5-costato, lobis subulato-lanceolatis deci- 

 duis, staminibus 10, 4 majoribus omnibus antheris uniporosis basi tuberculo horizontali 

 subelongato, ovario setoso basi calyci adhaerente. 



