Melastoma septemnervium
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| Melastoma septemnervium | |
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| Species: | M. septemnervium
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| Binomial name | |
| Melastoma septemnervium | |
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Melastoma candidum D. Don | |
Melastoma septemnervium are erect shrubs or small slender trees with medium sized pink flowers 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 septemnervium are erect shrubs or small trees up to 5 m tall.[2] Leaves are elliptical with short stiff hairs or scales on the upper surface and finer dense hairs on the lower surface but with a mixture of scales on the nerves.
Distribution
Native to Vietnam, southern China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Ryukyu Islands, and southern Japan.[2] Cultivated and naturalized in Hawaii but also reported to be abundant and invasive on Kauai and Hawaii Island from sea level up to 900 m elevation.[2]
Taxonomy
Hawaiian populations of M. septemnervium were historically assigned to Melastoma malabathricum non L. but later were identified as M. candidum D. Don by Wagner et al 1999 due to a number of consistently different traits, including a higher chromosome number (2n = 56 versus Melastoma malabathricum 2n = 24)[2]. Other taxonomic revisions of this species list M. candidum as a junior synonym of M. septemnervium.
References
- ^ ITIS - Integrated Taxonomic Information System Report Page Melastoma septemnervium 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.