PLEROMA PETIOLATA. 
(Long-petioled Pleroma.) 
DECANDRIA. 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
MELASTOMACE.E. 
Generic Character.— Calyx with an ovate tube ; 
when young involved in two deciduous bracts ; lobes 
five, deciduous. Petals obcordate. Stamens ten. Fila- 
ments pilose or glabrous. ^nW«er5 elongated, arched 
at the base. Ovary adhering to the calyx, apex bristly. 
Capsule baccate, subsiccate, five-celled. Seeds coch- 
leate. 
SpBciFrc Character, — Plant an erect evergreen 
shrub. Stem bluntly tetragonal, hairy. Leaves oppo- 
site, oblong-lanceolate, nearly cordate at the base, 
acute at the apex, petiolate, entire, densely pubescent. 
Inflorescence, in terminal corymbose panicles. 
Peduncles axillary. Floivers numerous. Prtals 
obovate cuneate, emarginate, ciliated. Anthers armed, 
ascending. Filaments pilose. Style smooth. 
Synonyme. — Lasiandra petiolata. 
In accordance with Mr. Bentham's views of tlie unity of Lasiandra and 
Pleroma., we have adopted the latter name, although the subject of our drawing, 
from its pilose filaments, would have been more fitly arranged with the former, 
had the difference of generic characters been deemed sufficient to retain that 
section as a separate genus. 
All the species are natives of South America, and have large showy purple 
flowers, which are commonly concealed in a pair of deciduous bracteas before they 
expand, and are arranged in large terminal panicles. The present plant is a strong 
growing shrub, generally rising three or four feet high, and sometimes even 
attaining a still greater altitude. The branches are well furnished with handsome 
foliage of the same soft velvety character, so frequent amongst Melastomaceous 
plants. It remains in flower for a considerable period, developing its blossoms in 
succession. 
It was first known in Britain through plants in the Edinburgh Botanic 
Garden, which were procured in 1836 from the Botanic Garden of Berlin. Sir 
W. J. Hooker suspects it to be synonymous with L. Maximiliana^ a native of 
the provinces of Saint Paulo, and Saint Sebastiano, in Brazil, where it was 
collected by Prince Maximilian de Neuwid, and named after him by Martins. 
In common with most other plants of the same tribe, it succeeds best in 
a mixture of rich friable loam, peat-earth, and sand ; and being a vigorous growing 
