Monolena
(from monos, one, and olene, the arm; alluding to the arm or process from the base of the anther). ORD. Melastomaceae. A genus comprising four or five species of fleshy, stemless, glabrous, stove herbs, with thick rhizomes, inhabiting the woods of Peru and New Grenada. Flowers flesh-coloured, large, in scorpioid cymes, shortly pedicellate; calyx tube turbinate, trigonal; lobes five, ovate, obtuse; petals five, elongated obovate-spathulate, obtuse; scapes slender. Leaves long-stalked, oblong, cordate or orbiculate, entire or denticulate. The undermentioned is a very handsome species, and the only one yet introduced. It thrives in a compost of sandy loam and peat or leaf mould, and requires a moist atmosphere. Propagated by division, or by cutting up the short thick rhizomes into pieces, and starting them in bottom heat. M. primulaeflora (Primula-flowered). fl. deep bright pink, with a white eye and yellow anthers, 1in. in diameter; petals obovate or obcordate; peduncles two or three-flowered. November. l. 4in. to 6in. long, elliptic, acuminate; margins sinuate-toothed, ciliate; upper surface bright glossy green, lower and petiole red-purple. h. 6in. Columbia, 1069. SYN. Bertolonia primulaeflora (of gardens). (B. M. 5818.)