Welcome
This is the Melastomataceae HomePage. It gives a short introduction into the plant family Melastomataceae. More detailed information can be found on the following pages.
Introduction
The Melastomataceae are an almost exclusively tropical plant family with about 4500 species. They comprise a wide range of growth forms, such as herbs, terrestrial and epiphytic shrubs, trees, and woody climbers. Most melastomes are easily identified by their parallel-nerved leaves. Their flowers are usually inconspicuous, but a few ornamental species, such as the glorybushes (Tibouchina spp.), have showy purple flowers. Melastomes have no economic value, although many species are used locally, and a few are aggressive weeds. Biologically, they are interesting because of the repeated evolution of various plant-animal mutualisms in the group, involving defense and/or nutrition by ants, buzz pollination by bees, and seed dispersal by birds, fish, reptiles, and mammals.
The next page contains more detailed information on the Melastomataceae. There are also pages with literature, links about Melastomataceae, and about people working on melastomes. Pages on the genus Melastoma are also provided.
