Medinilla venosa (Blume) Blume, Melastomataceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Common name(s): [more details]

English: holdtight

Habit:  shrub

Description:  "Erect shrubs 2-3 m tall; uppermost branches rounded, covered with spreading, plumose, brown hairs.  Leaves somewhat unequal in each pair, elliptic, elliptic-oblong, or elliptic-lanceolate, 7-18 cm long, 2.5-9 cm wide, pinnately nerved with 3-4 pairs of primary nerves diverging from the central nerve at successive points above base of blade, upper surface essentially glabrous at maturity, lower surface covered with spreading, plumose hairs, margins entire, apex acute to acuminate, base of larger leaves rounded to subauriculate, petioles 4-40 mm long.  Inflorescences 8-11 cm long (incl. peduncle), pedicels 6-8 mm long in fruit, bracts and bracteoles ovate to elliptic-ovate or lanceolate, 5-15 mm long, 2-8 (-14) mm wide, 3-5-nerved, deciduous; hypanthium ca. 4 mm long, moderately to densely stellate pubescent; calyx lobes 4, erect, broadly rounded, ca. 2 mm long; petals 4, pink, obliquely obovate, 9-11 mm long, 5-6 mm wide at apex; stamens 8, more or less equal; filaments 4.5-5 mm long; anthers 3.5-4 mm long, the truncate dorsal spur ca. 0.25 mm long, deflexed, the ventral appendages ca. 1 mm long; ovary densely bristly at summit.  Berries reportedly white at maturity, 4-celled, 5-7 mm long.  Seeds papillose, ca. 0.5 mm long"  (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 909-910).

Habitat/ecology:  Naturalized in wet coastal forests on Maui, Hawai‘i.  "The species is reportedly an epiphyte in its native range, but the adventive population on Maui appears to be terrestrial."  (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 909-910).

Propagation:  Seed, maybe bird-dispersed.

Native range:  Celebes, Moluccas and the Philippine Islands.

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (pp. 909-910)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	native	Merrill, Elmer D. (1923) (p. 205) In primary forests at low altitudes.

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)

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

Information about Medinilla venosa as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

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

References:

Merrill, Elmer D. 1923. An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants, vol. 3 [reprint]. Bureau of Printing, Manila. 628 pp.

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

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

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).