Melastoma sanguineum
| Melastoma sanguineum | |
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| Species: | M. sanguineum
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| Binomial name | |
| Melastoma sanguineum Sims [1]
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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.
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 with short stiff red hairs on the margins and underneath.
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 near Keaukaha and on the highway to Hilo from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.[2]
Taxonomy
M. sanguineum was first described by John Sims in 1821 (Botanical Magazine 48: , pl. 2241).[3]
References
- ^ ITIS - Integrated Taxonomic Information System Report Page Melastoma sanguineum Lour.
- ^ a b c d 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.
- ^ Tropicos - Missouri Botanical Garden. Name Search > Melastoma sanguineum Sims