MELA STOMACEiE. 
121 
Leaves and calyx bristly. Fruit 5-celled, with indefinite 
minute seeds. 
Stamens of two kinds, in one of which the connective is 
much produced below the anther cells 1. Melastoma. 
Stamens all alike 2. Tristemma. 
Leaves and calyx naked. Fruit with a single large seed. 
The only genus ‘3. Memecylon. 
1. MELASTOMA, Linn. 
Calyx densely scaly, adnate to the lower part of the ovary ; tube 
globose ; teeth 5, lanceolate. Petals 5, rather unequal, round-unguicu- 
late, springing from high up in the calyx-tube. Stamens 10, very 
unequal, the smaller erect with cells as long as the connective, the 
larger curved, with the cells confined to the upper half of the connec- 
tive, which has two spurs in front at the bottom. Ovary half -inferior, 
^-celled ; ovules very numerous ; style filiform ; stigma simple. Fruit 
subbaccate, bursting irregularly. — Shrubs with opposite entire bristly 
3-5-nerved leaves, and large showy flowers in terminal corymbs. 
Distrib. Polynesia and Tropical Asia, not Africa. Species TO. 
1. M. malabathricum, Linn.; DC. Prod. iii. 145. A shrub, 6-8 feet 
high, with slender quadrangular scabrous branchlets. Leaves dis- 
tinctly petioled, oblong, acute, 3-4 in. long, with 5 distinct ribs from 
top to bottom, densely clothed on both sides with firm short bristles. 
Flowers 3-6, in sessile corymbs at the end of the branchlets, with 
short pedicels and deciduous rather large lanceolate bracts. Calyx- 
tube globose, f in. thick ; teeth lanceolate, deciduous. Petals purple 
or nearly white, an inch long, rather exceeding the stamens. Anthers 
usually 5 of each kind. M. sechellarum, Naudin. 
Seychelles, common by streamsides at all levels. Tropical Asia, and Polynesia ; 
not Continental Africa. 
2. TRISTEMMA, Comm. 
Calyx tube tubuloso-campanulate, angular, girt with three rings of 
bristles ; teeth 5, erect, lanceolate. Petals 5, round-unguiculate. 
Stamens 10, subequal ; connective not produced at the base below the 
cells, spurred in front with two tubercles. Ovary half-inferior, 5- 
celled ; ovules numerous ; style filiform ; stigma capitate. Fruit 
capsular, bursting irregularly ; seeds numerous, minute. — Shrubs, 
with opposite entire bristly 5-7 nerved leaves, the flowers solitary or 
in clusters from the end of the branchlets. Distrib. All the rest 
Continental African. Species 12. 
1. T. virusanum. Comm. ; DC. Prod. iii. 144. A shrub, 2-3 feet high, 
with quadrangular bristly branchlets. Leaves opposite, distinctly 
petioled, ovate-oblong, acute, membranous, thinly bristly • on both 
sides, 4-6 in. long, with 5-7 distinct ribs from tip to base. Flowers 
4-8, in dense sessile or nearly sessile heads from the end of the 
branchlets, hidden by reduced leaves and persistent coriaceous round- 
