Medinilla magnifica Lindl., Melastomataceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Threat only at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Evaluate, score: 2 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

English: chandelier tree, Malaysian orchid, Malaysian orchid medinilla, showy medinilla, showy melastome

Habit:  shrub

Description:  "Scandent epiphytic glabrous shrub, 1-2 (-3) m high.  Branches quadrangular, compressed, distinctly winged, 10 mm in diameter; nodes densely setose, tufted with brownish stiff bristles c. 10 mm long, soon deciduous with age.  Leaves opposite, sessile; blades thickly coriaceous, elliptic to oblong, 30-34 (-45) cm long, 14-26 (-18) cm wide; apices acute; bases obtuse to shortly attenuate; 9-plinerved; occasionally 11-plinerved and if so, the marginal pair evanescent;  nerves flattened adaxially, slightly raised abaxially; transverse veins faintly distinct adaxially, absent abaxially.  Inflorescences terminal, many-flowered, pendulous, pink panicles 27-35 (-40) cm long, more or less fleshy; peduncles stout, fleshy, 10-15 (-18) cm long; secondary branches in whorls of 4; bracts spreading, elliptic-ovate, 60-80 (-100) mm long, 40-50 mm wide, acute at tip, reticulately veined; paired at the proximal end; whorled at the distal end, pink, persistent; bracteoles minute, subulate, caducous; pedicels slender, terete, 5-10 mm long.  Flowers 5-merous.  Hypanthium campanulate, 7-8 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, pinkish red, flared at the rim, denticulate.  Petals ovate, 15 mm long, 8 mm wide, membranous, dotted, pink.  Stamens equal; filaments flattened, 10 mm long; anthers rostrate, 10-12 mm long.  Fruits subglobose, bright pink to dark red when ripe, 6-7 mm in diameter; stalks terete, 10 mm long" (Regalado, 1995; p. 133).

"Evergreen shrub or epiphyte to ca. 3 m tall, with 4-angled or 4-winged branches, with a dense ring of short fleshy processes at the joints between the leaves; leaves opposite, sessile, mainly 15-30 cm long, ovate or ovate-oblong, entire, strongly veined, the veins converging toward the apex; flowers coral read, ca. 2.5 cm wide, in pendulous pyramidal panicles to 30 cm long, verticillate, having showy, whorled or opposite pinkish bracts ca. 2.5-10 cm long; petals 5; anthers purple, the filaments yellow" (Welsh, 1998; p. 181).

Habitat/ecology:  Rain forest epiphyte. In its native habitat in the Philippines, "in lowland dipterocarp forests between 300-500 m, in lower montane forests at 400-1000 m, or in cloud belt mossy forests up to 1400 m altitude" (Regalado, 1995; p. 133).

Propagation:  Seed, probably distributed by birds.

Native range:  Philippine Islands

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced	Welsh, S. L. (1998) (p. 181) Voucher cited: BRY 24828
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island		Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim (year unknown)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawaiian Islands	introduced cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 909)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island		Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim (year unknown)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive	Daehler, Curtis C./Baker, Raymond F. (2006) (p. 15) Voucher cited: K. Nagata 216 (HLA)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Frohlich, Danielle/Lau, Alex (2007) (p. 10) Voucher cited: J. Fisher OISCA8 (BISH)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	native	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 909)

Additional information:  Additional online information about Medinilla magnifica is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Taxonomic information about Medinilla magnifica may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Daehler, Curtis C./Baker, Raymond F. 2006. New records of naturalized and naturalizing plants around Lyon Arboretum, Mānoa Valley, O‘ahu. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucias G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2004-2005. Part 1: Articles. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 87:3-18.

Frohlich, Danielle/Lau, Alex. 2007. New plant records from O‘ahu for 2006. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucias G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2006. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 96:8-13.

Regalado, J. C., Jr. 1995. Revision of the Philippines Medinilla (Melastomataceae). Blumea 40(1).

Starr, Forest/Starr, Kim. 0. Forest and Kim Starr, pers. com.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).

Welsh, S. L. 1998. Flora Societensis: A summary revision of the flowering plants of the Society Islands. E.P.S. Inc., Orem, Utah. 420 pp.