MELA STOMA CEAE 
478 
with a simple style and stigma; ovules 00, anatropous, on axile 
placentae. Fruit a berry or loculicidal capsule. Seed exalbuminous ; 
one cotyledon larger than the other. The M. are of little economic 
importance ; a few yield colouring matters. 
Classification and chief gene}' a (after Krasser) : 
A. Fruit many-seeded. Embryo very small. 
I. MELASTOMATOIDEAE (ovules on slightly projecting 
placentae in inner angle of loc.): Tibouchina, Centra- 
denia, Melastoma, Monochaetum, Medinilla, Leandra, 
Miconia, Tococa, Maieta. 
II. ASTRONIOIDEAE (ovules on a placenta at base or on 
wall of loc.) : Kibessia. 
B. Fruit 1 — 5-seeded. Embryo large. 
III. MEM EC YLOIDEAE : Memecylon. 
[Placed in Myrtales by Benth.- Hooker, in Myrtiflorae by 
Warming.] 
Meiia Linn, (inch Azadirachta A. Juss.). Meliaceae. 12 sp. trop., 
except Am. Some are useful for their timber. M. Azedarach L., the 
beadtree, is cultivated for its firs. The bark of M. Azadirachta L. 
(A. itidica A. Juss.) is astringent and yields the medicinal Nim or 
Margosa oil. 
Meliaceae. Dicotyledons (Archichl. Geraniales). 40 gen. with 600 sp. 
trop. and sub-trop. Most are trees and shrubs, with alt. exstip. 
pinnate leaves, and cymose panicles of 5 regular firs. K (4 — 5) or 
4 — 5 ; C 4 — 5 ; A 8 — 10 usually united below into a tube, or some- 
times united all their length, in which case the anthers are sessile on the 
tube; disc present or not; G 2 — 5-loc. or rarely i-loc. or more than 
5- loc. ; style present or not; ovules in each loc. 1, 2, or more, usually 
pendulous and anatropous, with ventral raphe. Capsule, berry, or 
drupe; seeds often winged, with endosperm. Many, e.g. Swietenia 
(mahogany), Cedrela, & c., yield valuable timber ; the seeds of several 
are used as sources of oils; others have edible fruit. Chief genera: 
Cedrela, Pteroxylon, Swietenia, Carapa, Meiia, Aglaia, Trichilia. 
Placed in Geraniales by Benth.-Hooker, in Terebinthinae by Warming. 
[See Flindersia.] 
Melianthaceae. Dicotyledons (Archichl. Sapindales). 3 gen. with 
17 sp., Afr. (trop. and S.). Trees and shrubs with alt. usually stip. 
leaves, and racemes of $ , median-zygomorphic firs., whose stalks 
twist through 180 0 at the time of flowering. K 5 or (5), sometimes 4 
by union of two sepals ; C 4 or 5 ; disc extra-staminal ; A 5 or 4 or 
10, free or united at base; G (4 — 5), 4 — 5-loc. with one basal or 
many axile ovules in each loc. ; ovules erect or pendulous, anatropous, 
with ventral or dorsal raphe according as they are erect or pendulous 
respectively. Capsule ; seed sometimes with aril ; endosperm fleshy 
or horny. Chief genus : Melianthus. United to Sapindaceae by 
Benth.-Hooker, placed in Aesculinae by Warming. 
