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LYTHRACEAE 341 apex acute and apiculate, base narrowed, 1.5 to 4 cm long. Panicles 7 to 30 cm long, the lower branches subtended by leaves. Flowers fragrant. Calyx about 4 mm long. Petals usually straw-yellow, a little longer than the calyx-lobes. Capsule depressed-globose, 5 to 7 mm in diameter. (Fl. Filip. pi. 108.) Commonly cultivated for its fragrant flowers, occasionally spontaneous; in and about towns generally in the Philippines, chiefly cultivated, and certainly introduced after the Spanish occupation. A native of parts of Africa and India, now cultivated or spontaneous in most tropical countries. 2. L A G E R S T R O E M l A Linnaeus Trees or shrubs with opposite, usually distichous, entire, oblong to ovate leaves. Panicles axillary and terminal, ample. Flowers large,, showy, regular. Calyx-tube funnel-shaped, smooth, grooved, angular, o r narrowly winged, lobes usually 6. Petals usually 6, large, clawed, margins crisped or undulate. Stamens long, very numerous, inserted near the base of the calyx-tube. Ovary sessile at the base of the calyx-tube, 3- to 6celled, ovules many. Capsule ovoid to ellipsoid, more or less adnate to the persistent calyx-tube, 3- to 6-valved, 3- to 6-celled. Seeds many, winged at the apex. (In honor of M. Lagerstroem, a correspondent of Linnaeus.) Species about 30, chiefly Indian and Malayan, few in China and Aus tralia, 4 in the Philippines, of which 1 is introduced. Leaves 4 to 8 cm long, subsessile; flowers about 4 cm in diameter; petals beautifully crisped and lobed, with a long slender claw 1. L. indiea Leaves 12 to 25 cm long, distinctly petioled; flowers 7 to 8 cm or more in diameter, the petals with a short claw 2. L. speciosa *1. L. INDICA L. Melindres (Sp.-Fil.) ; Crepe Myrtle. A shrub or small tree, 4 m high or less, the branches slender, 4-angled, narrowly winged. Leaves entire, elliptie-ovate to oblong-ovate, or obovate, sessile, very shortly acuminate or obtuse, 4 to 8 cm long. Flowers about 4 cm in diameter, in small, terminal panicles. Calyx green, 6-lobed. Petals 6, pink or purplish, with a long slender claw, the limb 1.5 to 2 cm wide, orbicular or reniform in outline, lobed, strongly crisped. Capsule globoseovoid, 1 cm long or less. (Fl. Filip. pi. 207.) Occasionally cultivated for ornamental purposes, but not spontaneous, fl. June-Sept.; occasional in larger towns throughout the Archipelago. A native of China, now widely distributed in tropical and warm countries, cultivated and wild. 2. L. speciosa (L.) Pers. Banaba ( T a g . ) . A tree 4 to 20 m high, or sometimes flowering when a mere shrub 2 m high or less. Leaves coriaceous, oblong to elliptic-ovate, obtuse or shortly acuminate, 12 to 25 cm long. Panicles terminal, large, up to 40 cm in length. Flowers 6-merous. Calyx pubescent, ribbed. Petals lilac-purple, oblong-obovate or obovate, shortly clawed, 3 to 3.5 cm long. Capsule obovoid or ellipsoid, 2 to 3.5 cm long. (Fl. Filip. pi. 314, L. reginae.) In thickets, Malabon, San Juan del Monte, etc., occasional, sometimes also cultivated for its very ornamental flowers, fl. May-Aug.; common and widely distributed in the Philippines. India, through Malaya to Australia.