Pterolepis glomerata (Rottb.) Miq., 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:  Rhexia glomerata Rottb.

Common name(s): [more details]

English: false meadowbeauty

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Erect, suffrutescent herbs or subshrubs up to 0.5 m tall; young branches subquadrate, strigose.  Leaves ovate to oblong-ovate or elliptic, 1.4-4.5 cm long, 0.6-1.6 cm wide, 3-nerved, both surfaces sparsely to moderately strigose, margins entire or obscurely serrulate, apex acute, base obtuse to rounded, petioles 1-5 mm long.  Flowers usually 3-5 (-10) in bracteate, terminal glomerules, bracts and bracteoles ovate to lanceolate, 3.5-6 mm long, 1-2.5 mm wide at base, persistent, cilate; hypanthium covered with simple and stalked-stellate or branched hairs; calyx lobes triangular or oblong-ovate, 4-7.5 mm long, ca. 2 mm wide at base, ciliolate; petals obovate, ± obliquely truncate, 10-15 mm long, 10-14 mm wide; larger anthers pink, 3-4 mm long, connective prolonged 0.25-0.5 mm, with a 2-lobed appendage ca. 0.5 mm long, smaller anthers yellow, 2.5-3.5 mm long, with connective and appendage somewhat shorter but otherwise as in larger anthers.  Fruiting hypanthium 4-6 mm long, 2-5 mm wide.  Seeds ca. 0.5 mm long"  (Wagner et al., 1999; pp. 912-913).

Habitat/ecology:  In Hawai‘i, "apparently not cultivated, but weedy and locally naturalized in mesic to wet disturbed sites and trail margins"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 913).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Tropical regions of eastern South America from Santa Catarina, Brazil, north to the Lesser Antilles"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 913).

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	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 913)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Kaua‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 913)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Lāna‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wood, K. R. (2006) (p. 18) Voucheer cited: K. R. Wood 7531 (BISH, PTBG, F, K, MO, NY, US)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Moloka‘i Island	introduced invasive	Hughes, Guy D'Oyly (1995) (p. 7) "Sparingly naturalized in wet mesic forest in disturbed areas". Voucher cited: Hughes 18 (US)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	O‘ahu Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 913) Voucher cited: Greenwell s.n. (BISH)

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

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

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

References:

Hughes, Guy D'Oyly. 1995. New Hawaiian plant records II. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Miller, Scott, E., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 1994. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers. 42:1-10.

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).

Wood, K. R. 2006. New plant records and rediscoveries within the Hawaiian Islands. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucias G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2004-2005. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 88:15-19.