MELASTOMATACEAE 



403 



been indicated as Melaleuca minor Sm. and M. trinervis Ham., 

 but which seems to be merely a form of Melaleuca leucadendra 

 Linn. Cajukelam Rumph. Herb. Amb. 2: 74 may or may not 

 be identical with Melaleuca leucadendra Linn. Nearly all 

 authors have cited Arbor alba Rumph. under Melaleuca leuca- 

 dendron Linn., but Linnaeus's original spelling is here retained, 

 as he apparently never adopted the form "leucadendron." Me- 

 laleuca leucadendra Linn, is an exceedingly variable species 

 as already noticed by Bentham. 



MELASTOMATACEAE 



OTANTHERA Blume 



OTANTHERA CYANOIDES (Sm.) Triana in Trans. Linn. Soc. 28 (1871) 

 55. 



Melastoma cyanoides Sm. in Rees Cyclop. 23 (1813) no. 56, 57. 

 Melastoma moluccanum Blume Bijdr. (1826) 1078. 

 Fragarius ruber Rumph. Herb. Amb. 4: 135, t. 71. 

 Amboina, Batoe merah, Robinson PL Rumph. Amb. 512, July 31, 1913, 

 on wooded hillsides, altitude about 10 meters. 



Melastoma cyanoides Sm. was based on a specimen collected 

 in Amboina by Mr. Christopher Smith in October, 1796, Fra- 

 garius ruber Rumph. and Katou-Kadali Rheede being cited as 

 synonyms; Rheede's synonym must be excluded as it is not the 

 same as the Amboina plant. Linnaeus erroneously reduced Fra- 

 garius ruber to Melastoma asperum Linn., in Stickman Herb. 

 Amb. (1754) 17, Amoen. Acad. 4 (1759) 127, Syst. ed. 10 (1759) 

 1022, Sp. PL ed. 2 (1762) 560, in which he was followed by 

 numerous authors. Murray, Syst. (1771) 336, erroneously re- 

 duced it to Melastoma malabathricum Linn. Blume reduced it 

 to Melastoma moluccanum Blume in the original description of 

 that species and later cited it under Otanthera moluccana 

 Blume, both of which are manifestly synonyms of Otanthera 

 cyanoides (Sm.) Triana. I am indebted to Sir David Prain, 

 director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, England, for a transcript 

 of Smith's original description and for a comparison of Robin- 

 son's specimen with the type of Smith's species, which is pre- 

 served in the herbarium of the Linnean Society, London. 



MELASTOMA Linnaeus 



MELASTOMA POLYANTHUM Blume in Flora 14 (1831) 480. 

 Fragarius niger Rumph. Herb. Amb. 4: 137, t. 72. 

 Amboina, Batoe mera, Robinson PI. Rumph. Amb. 508, July 31, 1913, on 

 hillsides at low altitudes, locally known as biroro and daun biroro. 



The specimen is apparently referable to Melastoma polyan- 



