6 
MELASTOMACEOUS PLANTS. 
show we are not singular in the opinion that the order deserves 
more attention than it has hitherto received, the following de¬ 
scription of it by the late Mr. Loudon may be adduced: “ All 
these are remarkable as handsome tropical shrubs or trees, with 
large purple or white flowers, and leaves with several costse or 
nerves, as they are incorrectly termed. The species are generally 
ill-treated in collections, where they are not unfrequently to be 
found under the form of sickly, stunted plants, instead of noble, 
broad-leaved, spreading shrubs, with masses of brilliant flowers.” 
Believing, then, that the utmost care will be amply repaid by the 
greater part of the group, we cordially recommend them to notice, 
and leaving that part of the subject, proceed to describe what we 
know of them and their treatment. 
The whole of the order, with the exception of the North 
American genus, Rhexia, are stove plants, derived from the East 
and West Indies, Sierra Leone, South America, and China, re¬ 
quiring, in consequence, an elevated and humid atmosphere in the 
active season, and a marked change when the growth is com¬ 
pleted; for, like all other tropical plants, these insist on a preser¬ 
vation of the leading features of their native clime, and any 
great departure therefrom causes so much derangement in their 
progress as to render a return to healthy action both difficult and 
precarious: but the main dependencies once mastered their 
management is of the easiest kind. The nature of the seasons 
in tropical countries cannot be too often or too forcibly impressed 
on the minds of those who undertake the care of the vegetation 
of such places: they are of two kinds, which are commonly 
known as the rainy and hot seasons; the commencement of the 
first is marked by a comparatively low temperature, which con¬ 
tinues till much of the rain has fallen, it then rises rapidly, till 
by the time a cessation of rain occurs, the country through its 
influence is filled with a vaporous atmosphere, most dense at 
night, the effects of which in particular places may be correctly 
likened to those of a vapour-bath. The same influence, however, 
which vaporized the moisture of the earth, by its continued 
action exhausts the superincumbent water, and then commences 
the dry season, the first part of which is exceedingly hot, the 
temperature being higher than at any other time; the exact 
duration of either phase is uncertain and variable, but the heat 
