1044 
MYRTUS ? obscura. 
Smallflowered Myrile. 
5 SER 
ICOSANDRIA MONOGY NIA. 
Nat. ord. Myrvaczs. 
MYREFUS,— Linn. Juss. Cal. 4-5-partitus. Petala 4-5. Stamina 
debilia, receptaculo angusto inserta, Ovarium bi-tri-loculare, polyspermum : 
ovulis placente centrali insertis. Stigma simplex. Pericarpium baccatum, - 
polyspermum. Testa tenuis. Embryo arcuatus, teres, cotyledonibus radi- 
cula dup brevioribus. Lindley, Collectanea Botanica, fol. 19. 
M. obscura ; pedunculis subsolitariis axillaribus brevissimis, foliis subsessilibus 
oyato-lanceolatis acuminatis obtusis, calycibus pilosis 4-fidis bibracteo- 
latis: bracteolis subulatis, petalis extis pilosis, ramulis hirsutis. 
Frutex virgatus, ramis tenuibus, pilosis. Folia opposita, subsessilia, ovato- 
lanceolata, acuminata, obtusa. Flores axillares, solitarii geminive, pedicellis 
petiolis foliorum paulo longioribus, manimi, albi. Calyx 4-sepalus, sepalis 
utrinque villosis, ovato-acuminatis, patentibus. Petala 4, extis pilosiuscula, 
ovalia, subundulata, calyce longiora. Stamina indefinita, disco albo pulvinato 
piloso mordinatim inserta, inequilonga, interioribus brevioribus. Filamenta 
alba, jiliformia, Anthere parve, rotunde, fusce. Ovarium minimum, 
biloculare, polyspermum, ovulis ut credo ascendentibus, sed indistincte visis 
in flore unico. Stylus filiformis, apice arcuatus. Stigma simplex. Obs. 
Bracteole adsunt due subulate sub sepalis duobus oppositis. 
A native of Maranham, whence seeds were sent to the 
Horticultural Society, by Robert Hesketh, Esq., in 1824. 
Requires the protection of a stove, and flowers in November. 
Propagated with difficulty by cuttings. 
A very uncertain species of Myrtus, from which it 
differs in having the stamens inserted irregularly on the 
whole face of the discus, up to the very base of the style. 
But as its ovarium has not been yet satisfactorily examined, 
and as its fruit is wholly unknown, we place it provisionally 
in Myrtus, in the hope that the next volume of the learned 
M. Decandolle’s Prodromus may contain further information 
respecting its structure, if the species should prove to 
be known to him. 
VOL, XIII. B 
