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]

gollark: Apostrophes are numbers, actually.
gollark: Anyway, guess faster, I want to show everyone how objectively and utterly right I am.
gollark: It's already too late.
gollark: (it is where you guess all entries as gollark)
gollark: Use the gollark algorithm.

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
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.