Phyllagathis
(from phyllon, a leaf, and agatheos, divine; referring to the beauty of the foliage). ORD. Melastomaceae. A genus comprising only a couple of species of handsome, very thick, herbaceous, small stove shrubs, with short stems, restricted to the Malayan Peninsula and Islands. Flowers pink, in short, pedunculate, densely crowded heads; calyx tube oblong or turbinate-campanulate; lobes three or four, ovate, acute, as are also the four, rarely three, petals; bracts ample, involucrate. Leaves opposite, or solitary and terminal, large, petiolate, orbiculate, cordate at base, obtuse, entire or denticulate, seven to nine-nerved, shining above, discoloured beneath; petioles often hairy within. P. rotundifolia requires a very moist and warm atmosphere. It thrives best in a compost of peat and sand, to which may be added a little leaf mould. Propagated by leaf-cuttings, which should be kept in a close frame in the stove until well established. P. gymnantha (naked-flowered). fl. pink, disposed in a compact head; petals obliquely bilobed; peduncles springing from the upper axils, tinged with red below. l. ovate, seven-nerved, cordate at base, bright glossy green, ciliated on the margins. Stem short, erect. Borneo, 1884.
P. rotundifolia (round-leaved). fl. pink, densely crowded in axillary, pedunculate heads, each of which is involucrated by bracts. July. l. opposite, large, roundish, 6in. to 9in. long, 4in. to 6in. wide; the upper surface plaited and shining, of a rich, deep, metallic green, slightly tinged with red; the under side dark red, with very prominent ribs. Stem square, stout. h. 1ft. to 2ft. Sumatra. The beauty of this species is confined to the leaves. (B. M. 5282.)