Staphidiastrum
ORD. Melastomaceae. A genus comprising about twenty-seven species of stove, villous, bristly, or tomentose, rarely glabrous shrubs, closely allied to Clidemia, natives of equatorial America. Flowers small or minute, disposed in small or large, axillary, solitary or fascicled panicles; calyx four-lobed; petals four, obtuse or retuse; stamens eight. Berries four-celled, often hairy. Leaves sessile or petiolate, ovate, oblong, or cordate, three to seven-nerved, entire or denticulated. A selection from the introduced species is here presented. For culture, see Melastoma. S. hirsuta (hairy). fl. white; petals ovate, acute; peduncles axillary, trifld. May. fr. dark purple, hairy. l. oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, denticulated, densely hairy on the nerves beneath; petioles (as well as the peduncles and calyces) bristly, slightly purplish, hirsute. h. 6ft. 1823. S. sessiliflora (sessile-flowered). fl. red; crowded in the axils, sub-sessile; petals oval, obtuse. April. l. sub-sessile, oval, acuminate, crenulated, seven-nerved, ciliated, densely bristly-pilose above, villous-hairy beneath. Branches terete, densely-rufous-hairy. h. 4ft. 1793. S. umbrosa (shade-loving). fl. red; petals obovate; panicles axillary, loosely trichotomous, slightly hispid, as long as the petioles. March. l. broadly ovate, acuminate, serrulated, ciliated, densely pilose on the nerves; petioles 1 1/2in. long. h. 6ft. 1824.