Oxyspora
(from oxys, sharp, and spora, a seed; in allusion to the seeds being awned at both ends). ORD. Melastomaceae. A small genus (four species) of very handsome, slender, erect, or almost scandent, stove shrubs, natives of Eastern Bengal and the Malayan Archipelago. Flowers pink or red, disposed in terminal, elongated, many-flowered, loose, nodding panicles; calyx lobes and petals four. Leaves long-stalked, large, oblong or lanceolate-ovate, long-acuminate, entire or sinuate-toothed, five to seven-nerved. O. paniculata, the only species introduced, thrives in a compost of sandy loam and fibry peat, with the addition of some small pieces of charcoal. Propagation may be effected by cuttings of young shoots, inserted in sandy soil, under a glass, in bottom heat, in April.
O. paniculata (panicled). fl. disposed in lax, drooping panicles, often 1ft. long; petals four, bright rose-colour, obovate, acute-Autumn. l. ovate or cordate-ovate, or cordate-ovate, acuminate, five to seven-nerved, glabrous above, and obsoletely downy, with short hairs, or quite glabrous below, where also the nerves are very prominent, and red. h. 3ft. to 5ft. India, 1826. (B. M. 4553, under name of O. vagans.) O. vagans (wandering). A synonym of O. paniculata.