Melastoma sanguineum

Melastoma sanguineum is called red melastome or fox-tongued melastoma in English. They are erect shrubs or small slender trees with medium-sized violet-pink colored flowers with 6 petals that have made them attractive for cultivation. The leaves have the 5 distinctive longitudinal veins (nerves) typical of plants in the family Melastomataceae.

Melastoma sanguineum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Melastomataceae
Genus: Melastoma
Species:
M. sanguineum
Binomial name
Melastoma sanguineum

Description

Melastoma sanguineum are erect shrubs or small trees up to 2 to 4 m tall.[2] Leaves are ovate-lanceolate 10 to 20 cm long.

Fruit in the form of berries 15 mm long with 6 cells and many small seeds. Chromosome number 2n = 56.[2]

Distribution

Native to Malay Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Vietnam, and southern China.[2] Occasionally cultivated in Hawaii. Naturalized populations have escaped cultivation and are spreading on Hawaii Island in the Keaukaha area and on the highway from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to Hilo.[2]

Taxonomy

Melastoma sanguineum was first described by John Sims in 1821 (Botanical Magazine 48: pl. 2241).[3]

References
  1. ITIS - Integrated Taxonomic Information System Report Page Melastoma sanguineum Sims
  2. Wagner, Warren L.; Herbst, Derral R.; Sohmer, S.H. (1999). Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai`i. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 910–911. ISBN 0-8248-2166-1.
  3. Tropicos - Missouri Botanical Garden. Name Search > Melastoma sanguineum Sims
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