Note 32 — PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS.

p. 29.—“Melastomaceæ.”

This group comprises the genera Melastoma (Fothergilla and Tococa Aubl.) and Rhexia (Meriana and Osbeckia), of which we found, on either side of the equator in tropical America alone, 60 new species. Bonpland has published a superb work on Melastomaceæ, in two volumes, with coloured drawings. Some species of Rhexia and Melastoma ascend in the Andes, as alpine or Paramos shrubs, as high as nine and ten thousand five hundred (about 9600 and 11190 English) feet: among these are Rhexia cernua, R. stricta, Melastoma obscurum, M. aspergillare, and M. lutescens.