Melastoma sanguineum Sims, Melastomataceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  High risk, score: 11 (Go to the risk assessment)

Other Latin names:  Melastoma decemfidum Roxb.

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: mao nie

English: fox-tongued melastoma, red melastome

Habit:  shrub/tree

Description:  "Erect shrubs or small trees 2-4 (-8) m tall, branches and petioles sparsely covered with spreading, smooth hairs 5-15 mm long, but often intermixed with or replaced by appressed, smooth, subulate hairs usually 1 mm or less long. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, (8-) 10-20 cm long, 2-4 (-6.5) cm wide, 5 (-7)-nerved, upper surface moderately covered with hairs that are adnate to the epidermis for most of their length, lower surface strigillose with scattered appressed, lanceolate scales on the elevated nerves, margins entire, apex acuminate to attenuate, base obtuse to rounded, petioles 10-20 (-30) mm long. Inflorescences 2-7-flowered, pedicels 10-15 mm long in fruit, bracts and bracteoles elliptic to lanceolate, 7-15 mm long, 3-9 mm wide, early deciduous; hypanthium covered with spreading or incurved, smooth, more or less basally flattened hairs; calyx 6-lobed, ovate to triangular, 6-12 mm long, apex acuminate; petals 6, purplish pink, 2.5-4.7 cm long, 2.7-3.5 cm wide; anthers of larger stamens 12-15 mm long, connective prolonged 12-16 mm with an appendage ca. 2 mm long, anthers of smaller stamens 9-11 mm long. Berries 6-celled, 15-17 mm long" (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 911).

Habitat/ecology:  (no habitat/ecology info known by PIER)

Propagation:  Seed, bird-dispersed.

Native range:  Malay Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Vietnam and southeastern China.

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	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 911)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced	Wester, Lyndon (1992) (p. 143)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 911)
China China	Hong Kong	native	Wu, Te-lin (2001) (pp. 166-167) Along ditches or in thickets.
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)	native	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 911)
Malaysia Malaysia	Malaysia (country of)	native	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 911)
Vietnam Vietnam	Vietnam (Socialist Republic of)	native	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 911)

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

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

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

References:

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

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).

Wester, Lyndon. 1992. Origin and distribution of adventive flowering plants in Hawai‘i. In: Stone, Charles P.; Smith, Clifford W. and Tunison, J. Timothy. Alien plant invasions in native ecosystems of Hawaii: Management and Research. University of Hawaii, Cooperative National Park Research Studies Unit, Honolulu. University of Hawaii Press. .

Wu, Te-lin. 2001. Check List of Hong Kong Plants. Hong Kong Herbarium and the South China Institute of Botany. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department Bulletin 1 (revised). 384 pp.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).