Melastoma affine

Melastoma affine was first described by Scottish botanist David Don in 1823. The taxonomy of the genus Melastoma is tricky, requiring a complete revision.{{Cite book | last1= Whiffin | first1= Trevor | year= 1990 | contribution= Melastoma | contribution-url= http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/online-resources/flora/stddisplay.xsql?pnid=47144 | title= Flora of Australia: Volume 18: Podostemaceae to Combretaceae | url= | series= Flora of Australia series | pages= 247–248 | publisher= CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study | isbn= 978-0-644-10472-2 }}{{Cite book | last1= Whiffin | first1= Trevor | year= 1990 | contribution= Melastoma affine | contribution-url= http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/online-resources/flora/stddisplay.xsql?pnid=47145 | title= Flora of Australia: Volume 18: Podostemaceae to Combretaceae | url= | series= Flora of Australia series | at= page 248, figs 61, 86, map 346 | publisher= CSIRO Publishing / Australian Biological Resources Study | isbn= 978-0-644-10472-2 }} Early genetics studies were published from 2001,{{Cite journal | last1= Clausing | first1= G. | last2= Renner | first2= Susanne S. | year= 2001 | title= Molecular phylogenetics of Melastomataceae and Memecylaceae: implications for character evolution | journal= American Journal of Botany | volume= 88 | issue= 3 | pages= 486–498 | doi=10.2307/2657114| jstor= 2657114 | pmid= 11250827 | doi-access= }} – see also the erratum. through to recently,{{Cite journal

| last1= Michelangeli | first1= Fabián A.

| last2= Guimaraes | first2= Paulo J. F.

| last3= Penneys | first3= Darin S. | display-authors= 3

| last4= Almeda | first4= Frank | last5= Kriebel | first5= Ricardo

| date= 2013

| title= Phylogenetic relationships and distribution of New World Melastomeae (Melastomataceae)

| journal= Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society | volume= 171 | issue= 1 | pages= 38–60

| doi= 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2012.01295.x

| issn= 1095-8339

| doi-access= free }} but a revision based on them has yet to be. In 2001 Karsten Meyer proposed a revision in which this species and other species were subsumed within the species Melastoma malabathricum.{{Cite journal | last1= Meyer | first1= Karsten | year= 2001 | title= Revision of the Southeast Asian genus Melastoma (Melastomataceae) | journal= Blumea | volume= 46 | issue= 2 | pages= 351–398 }}

In Australia, currently most authorities do not accept this; instead the naturally occurring populations in WA, NT, Qld and northeastern NSW remain recognised as this species M. affine,{{Cite journal | last1= Hosking | first1= J. R. | last2= Conn | first2= B. J. | last3= Lepschi | first3= B. J. | last4= Barker | first4= C. H. | year= 2011 | title= Plant species first recognised as naturalised or naturalising for New South Wales in 2004 and 2005 | journal= Cunninghamia | volume= 12 | issue= 1 | pages= 85–114 | url= http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/116372/cun121hos085.pdf | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140426202223/http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/116372/cun121hos085.pdf | url-status= dead | archive-date= 26 April 2014 | accessdate= 18 June 2013 }}{{Cite web |url=http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Melastoma~affine |last1=Wilson |first1 = Peter G. |date=July 2001 |title= Melastoma affine D.Don – New South Wales Flora Online |work=PlantNET - The Plant Information Network System |location=Sydney, Australia |publisher=The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust |version=2.0 |accessdate= 18 June 2013}} except by authorities in Qld.{{cite web |author=F.A.Zich |author2=B.Hyland |author3=T.Whiffen |author4=R.A.Kerrigan |access-date=27 May 2021 |url=https://apps.lucidcentral.org/rainforest/text/entities/Melastoma_malabathricum_subsp._malabathricum.htm |title=Melastoma malabathricum subsp. malabathricum |website=Australian Tropical Rainforest Plants (RFK8) |publisher=Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government}}{{Cite book | editor1-last= Bostock | editor1-first= P.D. | editor2-last= Holland | editor2-first= A.E. | year= 2010 | url= http://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/plants/census_qld_flora.html | title= Census of the Queensland Flora 2010 | location= Brisbane | publisher= Queensland Herbarium, Department of Environment and Resource Management | page= 101 | accessdate= 18 June 2013 }}

{{As of|2020|November}}, the Australian Plant Census (APC) accepts the following synonyms of Melastoma affine:{{cite web |title=APC: Melastoma affine |website=Australian Plant Census |url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/tree/51372924/51234257 |access-date=3 November 2020}}

• Melastoma malabathricum var. nanum F.M.Bailey
• Melastoma malabathricum var. polyanthum (Blume) Benth.
• Melastoma novae-hollandiae Naudin
• Melastoma polyanthum Blume

Two other names that have been used for this species it regards as misapplied rather than synonyms:

• Melastoma malabathricum L.
• Melastoma denticulatum Labill.

It is found as a shrub to {{convert|2|m|ft|abbr=on}} in height. The leaves are ovate and measure {{convert|6|to|12|cm|in|round=0.5|abbr=on}} in length, and {{convert|2|–|4|cm|in|round=0.5|abbr=on}} wide. Covered in fine hair they have longitudinal veins. Appearing in spring and summer, the flowers occur on the ends of branchlets and are purple with five petals and sepals. There are two sets of distinctive stamens, five opposite the petals and five opposite the sepals. The antesepalous ones have long anthers with a bilobed appendage at their base. It produces 8mm long purple fruits that split open to expose a redish to purple flesh with many small seeds.{{Cite web|url=http://fruitandnuttrees.com/blue-tongue-native-lassiandra|title=Blue Tongue - Native Lassiandra - Melastoma affine|work=Fruit and Nut Trees - Fruit Bearing Plants|accessdate=April 24, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140425035802/http://fruitandnuttrees.com/blue-tongue-native-lassiandra|archive-date=April 25, 2014|url-status=dead}} The common name "blue tongue" refers to the edible purplish-black pulp within the fruit capsules which stains the mouth blue.{{Cite book | last1= Low | first1= Tim | year= 1991 | title= Wild Food Plants Of Australia | publisher= Angus & Robertson | location= Australia | page= 59 | isbn= 978-0207169304}}

Melastoma affine is found from India through southeast Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia and into Australia. Within Australia, it is found from the Kimberleys in Western Australia, across the Northern Territory and Queensland,{{Cite book | last1=Elliot | first1=Rodger W. | last2=Jones | first2=David L. | last3=Blake | first3=Trevor |title=Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants Suitable for Cultivation:Volume 6 - K-M|year=1993 |publisher=Lothian Press |location=Port Melbourne |isbn=978-0-85091-589-1|page=375}} and reaches as far south as Kempsey on the New South Wales mid north coast. It grows in wet areas in sclerophyll forest.

M. affine is important as being a pioneer species that colonises disturbed wet-sclerophyll and rain forest habitats in the Australasian region.{{Cite journal | last1= Gross | first1= Caroline L. | date= Dec 1993| title= The Breeding System and Pollinators of Melastoma affine (Melastomataceae); A Pioneer Shrub in Tropical Australia | journal= Biotropica | volume= 25 | issue= 4 | pages= 468–74 | jstor= 2388870 | doi=10.2307/2388870}} It produces no nectar - giving pollinators large amounts of pollen instead, which must be extracted through pores on the anthers. Melastoma affine is pollinated by bees, particularly Xylocopa bombylans, X. aff. gressittii, Amegilla anomola and Nomia species. Honeybees outcompete native bees for pollen at flowers, impacting on the species' reproduction.{{Cite journal | last1= Gross | first1= Caroline L. | last2= Mackay | first2= D. | year= 1998 | title= Honeybees reduce fitness in the pioneer shrub Melastoma affine (Melastomataceae) | journal= Biological Conservation | volume= 86 | issue= 2 | pages= 169–78 | doi= 10.1016/S0006-3207(98)00010-X }}

A fast-growing and adaptable shrub, Melastoma affine is sometimes seen in cultivation. It can be propagated by seed or cuttings.

The plant is used to make grass jelly ({{lang|id|cincau perdu}}) in Indonesia. The fruits ripen to dark gray, and contain an edible purple pulp around the seeds. It stains the mouth black (hence the name of the genus).{{cite web |url=http://tenpsnt.tripod.com/PhotoList/melastoma_polyanthum.htm | title=Melastoma polyanthum | accessdate=January 2, 2013}}{{cite book | title=Medicinal Plants of Asia And the Pacific | publisher=CRC Press | author=Wiart, Christophe | year=2006 | pages=140–141 | isbn=978-0849372452}} Sap or an extract from the leaves is used as a herbal medicine against a number of conditions including diarrhoea, burns, ulcers, wounds, piles and thrush in Indonesia and the Solomon Islands.

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affine

Category:Endangered flora of Australia

Category:Flora of tropical Asia

Category:Endangered flora of Asia

Category:Grass jelly plants