Order 40. MELASTOMÀCEÆ. (Melastoma Family.)
Plants with opposite 3–7-ribbed leaves, and definite stamens, the anthers opening by pores at the apex; otherwise much as in the Onagraceæ.—All tropical, except the genus
1. RHÉXIA, L. Deer-Grass. Meadow-Beauty.
Calyx-tube urn-shaped, coherent with the ovary below, and continued above it, persistent, 4-cleft at the apex. Petals 4, convolute in the bud, oblique, inserted along with the 8 stamens on the summit of the calyx-tube. Anthers long, 1-celled, inverted in the bud. Style 1; stigma 1. Capsule invested by the permanent calyx, 4-celled, with 4 many-seeded placentæ projecting from the central axis. Seeds coiled like a snail shell, without albumen.—Low perennial herbs, often bristly, with mostly sessile 3–5-nerved and bristly-edged leaves, and large showy cymose flowers; in summer; the petals falling early. (A name in Pliny for some unknown plant, probably from ῥῆξις, a crevice, from the place of growth.)
[*] Anthers linear, curved, with a minute spur on the back at the attachment of the filament above its base; flowers cymose, peduncled.
1. R. Virgínica, L. Stem square, with wing-like angles; leaves oval-lanceolate, sessile, acute; calyx-tube and pedicels more or less hispid with gland-tipped hairs; petals bright purple.—Sandy swamps; coast of Maine to Fla., west to northern N. Y., Ind., Mo., and La. Slender rootstocks tuberiferous.
2. R. aristòsa, Britt. Branches somewhat wing-angled; leaves linear-oblong, sessile, not narrowed at base, naked or very sparsely hairy; hairs of the calyx mostly below the throat, not gland-tipped; petals sparsely villous, bright purple.—Egg Harbor City, N. J. (J. E. Peters); also Sumter Co., S. C. (J. D. Smith).
3. R. Mariàna, L. Stems cylindrical; leaves linear-oblong, narrowed below, mostly petiolate; petals paler.—Sandy swamps; N. J. to Fla., west to Mo. and La.
[*][*] Anthers oblong, straight, without any spur; flowers few, sessile.
4. R. ciliòsa, Michx. Stem square, glabrous; leaves broadly ovate, ciliate with long bristles; calyx glabrous.—Md. to Fla. and La.