363 
MELASTOMA levigata. 
Smooth-leaved Melastoma. 
——o>-—— 
DECANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
- Nat. ord. MELASTOME (recentius MELASTOMACER). Jussieu gen. 328. 
ju. I. 
_ MELASTOMA. Cal. 1-phyllus, extis nudus, 4-5-6-dentatus, fruc- 
tum vestiens. Pet. 4-5-6. Stam. 8-10-12, omnino libera. Germ. liberum, 
Bacca seu capsula molli pulpa farcta, 4-5-locularis apice dehiscens. Sem. 
numerosa, in pulpa nidulantia, Ventenat in mem. de L Institut. sc. phys. 
1807. 8. 11. 
. 
a a ee a ar 
M. levigata, foliis integerrimis lavigatis quinquenerviis ovato-oblongis- 
leviusculis acuminatis: margine levibus. Lin. sp. pl. ed. 2. 559. 
Melastoma laevigata. Swartz obs. 176. Willd. sp. pl. 2. 593. Sweet hort. 
suburb. lond. 94. 
Melastoma. fruticosa minor, foliis tenuibus, ovatis, racemis terminalibus. 
Browne jam. 212. ingle 
Grossularia fructa non spinoso, malabathri folio oblongo, floribus herbaceis 
~ racemosis, fructa nigro. Sloane cat. 165. hist. 2. 140. 
Frutex humane altitudinis, erectus. Caulis ramosus, levis. Rami erecti, 
tereti-angulati, leaves. Folia petiolata, decussato-opposita, lanceolato-ovata, 
acuminata, integra, 5-nervia, nervosa, VENOsa, utringue glabra, tenuiora, in- 
terdim subtis rugosiuscula, subnitida, saturate viridia. Racemi terminales, 
compositi, erectt, paniculati, ramis oppositis decussatis, ramulis itidem oppo- 
sitis; floribus confertis, brevitér pedicellatis, albis, parvis. Cal. superus, 
5-dentatus: dentes obiusi, breves. Petala 5, infra dentes inserta, subsessiliay 
subrotunda, integra. Fil. 10 calyct infra petala adfixa, corolla longiora, 
geniculata; anthers erecte, apice perforate. Germ. subrotundum: stylus 
erectus, staminibus longior: stigma crassiusculum, truncatum, concavum. 
Bacca subrotunda, primitm albida, dein cerulea et tandém atra evadit, 
§-locularis, succo atroceruleo. Swartz loc. cit. 7 
Said by Swartz to be a common plant in Jamaica. It 
is however rare in our collections, into which, according to 
Sweet's Hortus Suburbanus Londinensis, it was not intro- 
duced till 1815. We find no mention of it in the Hortus 
Kewensis. The sample from which the drawing has been 
taken, was kindly sent by Sir Abraham Hume from 
Wormleybury, where it flowered in the hothouse during the 
_late winter months. : 
Mr. Brown, in his valuable notes on the Congo Her- 
barium, has the following interesting notice concerning the 
natural order to which our plant belongs. : 
