MELASTOMA SANGUINEA. 
(Bloody- veined Melastoma.) 
Class. Older. 
DECANDRIA. MONOGYNIA, 
Natural Order. 
MEL ASTOM ACE2E . 
Generic Character. — Calyx with an ovate tube a pruinose dot. Capsule baccate, five or six-celled, 
adhering to the ovarium, densely covered with scales opening irregularly. Seeds cochleate. — Don's Gard. and 
or bristles ; limb five, rarely six-cleft ; the segments Botany. 
alternating with the appendages, both deciduous. Specific Character. — Plant an evergreen shrub. 
Petals five or six. Stamens twice the number of the Branches terete, very rough from red bristles. Leaven 
petals. Anthers oblong-linear, a little arched, open- on short petioles, ovate-lanceolate, acuminated, five- 
ing by a pore at the apex, each furnished with a stipe- nerved, green above and shining, but red at the nerves 
formed connective, which is in some species elongated, beneath, and on the petiole. Pedicels bi-bracteate. 
and in others short, but always bi-auriculate or emar- Floivers few, large, rose-coloured, terminal. Calyx 
ginate in front. Ovarium free, part conical and bristly. covered with very long incurved bristles. Petals six, 
Style filiform, somewhat thickened at the apex. Stigma large. Fruit bracteate. 
This beautiful slirub, so seldom seen in our stoves, although it has been twenty 
years in the country, is a native of the Sunda Islands, where it grows to a large 
bush five or six feet high. 
In cultivation it seldom reaches a greater altitude than three feet, unless 
planted out in a border. The branches are well clothed with leaves, and termi- 
nate in a cluster of very large delicately-soft pink or rose-coloured flowers, the 
ephemeral character and successive expansion of which, however, prevent them 
from appearing at any one time in excessive quantity ; and it is, therefore, rather 
a plant which presents a moderately attractive aspect for a considerable period, 
than a gorgeous blaze of beauty lasting only for a few days. 
A tendency to grow perfectly upright is commonly displayed not only by this 
species, but by most of its congeners, and in order to obtain bushy specimens it is 
consequently necessary to tie down the outmost shoots, and shorten back the 
inner ones, that laterals may be formed to fill up the middle of the bush. Pruning, 
indeed, is absolutely necessary, every year, to prevent a loose diffusive growth, 
and to secure vigour and the free development of blossoms. 
In the general characters of the plant there is a striking affinity with M. ma- 
crocarpum. It is, however, easily known from that species by the blood- coloured 
petioles and nerves of the leaf, and the crimson bristles which clothe the stem. 
These features, whilst they thus serve to distinguish it, and have been selected as 
the foundation of the specific title, impart an additional interest to its appearance. 
VOL. XIT. NO, CXLIV. M M 
