122 
MELASTOMACEiE. 
[ Tristemma . 
cuspidate bracts. Calyx sessile, f in. deep, the erect teeth shorter 
than the tube. Petals } in. deep, whitish or purple. Stamens shorter 
than the petals. Vent. Choix. t. 35. T. mauritianum, Pers. 
Mauritius, in shaded woods of the centre of the island. Also Madagascar and 
Comoros. 
3. MEMECYLON, Linn. 
Calyx naked, with a small obconic adnate tube and an entire or 
obscurely 4-toothed collar-like limb. Petals 4, deltoid. Stamens 8, 
equal, included or exserted ; filaments filiform ; anthers small, oblong, 
the connective dilated on the back, spurred minutely at the base 
behind. Ovary 1-celled ; ovules few, whorled round a central placenta ; 
style filiform ; stigma entire. Fruit a globose berry with one large 
seed. — Shrubs with opposite entire leaves, entirely destitute of bristles 
or hairs, the copious minute bluish or w'hite flowers in axillary cymes. 
Disteib. Tropics of the Old World. Species 100. 
Leaves triplinerved 1. M. trinerve. 
Leaves penninerved. 
Branchlets quadrangular. 
Leaves 1^-2 as long as broad. Flowers copiously 
cymose 2. M. angulatum. 
Leaves 3 times as long as broad. Pedicels solitary 
or forked 3. M. Ela;agni. 
Branchlets terete. 
Leaves sessile, cordate 4. M. cordatum. 
Leaves petioled, cuneate at the base 5. M. sphjerocarpum. 
1. M. trinerve, DC. Prod. iii. 5. A shrub, 10-15 feet high with 
quadrangular branchlets. Leaves short-petioled, oblong, usually 2-3 
in. long, obtuse or subacute, in one specimen acuminate, 4-5 in. long, 
subcoriaceous, with 3 distinct ribs from tip to base, cuneate or rather 
rounded at the base ; transverse venules obvious. Flowers in dense 
sessile cymes in the axils of the leaves ; pedicels equalling or exceed- 
ing the calyx, which is under in. long, with a faintly toothed spread- 
ing limb longer than the tube. Petals as long as the calyx. Stamens 
and style much exserted. Berry the size of a small pea. 
Mauritius, frequent in the hill-woods. Endemic. 
2. M. angulatum, Reich. ; DC. Prod. iii. 5. A shrub, 10-12 feet 
high, with slender quadrangular branchlets. Leaves short-petioled, 
oblong, obtuse, rigidly subcoriaceous, 2-4 in. long, cuneate at the 
base, with only the midrib visible. Flowers in sessile or short- 
peduucled solitary or fascicled many-flowered cymes from the swollen 
nodes ; pedicels equalling or exceeding the calyx. Calyx truncate, 
campanulate, in. broad and deep. Petals white, deltoid, as long as 
the calyx. Stamens not exserted. Berry \ in. long. 
Mauritius, frequent in woods. Endemic. M. sparsifolhm , Bojer, Hort. Maur. 
132, is known to me by name only. 
3. M. Elseagni, Blume , Mus. Bot. i. 356. A small tree or large 
