Meriania
(named in honour of a Dutch lady, Sibylle de Merian, 1647-1717, authoress of "De Metamorphosibus Insectorum Surinamensium"). SYN. Davya. ORD. Melastomaceae. A genus comprising about twenty-six species of erect, glabrous or pubescent, stove trees or shrubs, natives of tropical America and the West Indies. Flowers yellow or purple, large, disposed in short, cymose, terminal or lateral panicles; calyx glabrous or powdery, tube shortly campanulate or hemispherical; stamens ten, equal or nearly so. Leaves often on long petioles, oblong-lanceolate, obtusely acuminate or caudate at apex, three to five-nerved, entire or obtusely toothed. For culture, see Melastoma. M. Karstenii (Karsten's). fl. deep red. Summer. l. lanceolate, serrate, long-acuminate. Branches terete, smooth. Caraccas, 1850. Shrub. (F. d. S. 767.) M. rosea (rosy).* fl. varying from white with a crimson base to rose and purple; calyx lobes subulate; anther spurs short, alternately conical and bi-tubercled. l. elliptical or ovate-lanceolate, the younger ones minutely serrate with glandular teeth. h. 30ft. West Indies, 1885. An arborescent shrub.