Monday, October 5, 2009

Macro: Melastoma

 Melastoma, Chinese name is “野牡丹”, words meaning: “wild peony”. Chinese like peony and treat it as the most  beautiful flowers in the world. This is the close up shot for Blue Monday and Macro Monday, though I am not sure if the flowers can be called “blue color”

Melastoma is a genus in the family Melastomataceae. It has about 50 species distributed around Southeast Asia, India, and Australia. It is undergoing taxonomic revision. Many species have been planted around the world for the aesthetic value of their bright purple flowers. This has led to the unavoidable consequence of these plants turning into weeds. They're considered so in Hawaii and parts of mainland USA.
This is a very common wild flowers in Singapore, you can find it at lot of places but to open your eyes for its beauty. It is an attractive shrub which is fast growing and adapts well to a variety of soils and conditions, best flowering is achieved in full sun with a good water supply. I tried to plant it in pot but it was not growing well at all. The large showy flowers last only one day and followed by blue-black fruit with a sweet, edible flesh which will stain the mouth a dark bluish color, so it was called “bluetongue”. The fruits are the favorites to many birds. Squirrels and monkeys are also fond of the fruits. Their seeds are dispersed by birds. As such, they grow everywhere and are often considered a weed. There are many varieties, some flowers are white, some are in dark blue, some are pink. I was told this is one kind of herbs, especially the white flowers type, I am still searching more information about the herbal uses. If you know something which I don’t write in this post, appreciate you can leave your comments here.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nice and you can call them blue (with a bit of red).

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

Hi Paula,
Didn't know it's Chinese name. I used to see in the bush the pink ones generally known as the Singapore rhododendron. So I googled it and found it the same thing.

Jama said...

Beside Rhododendron, there's another common name for this Melastoma, it's Sendudok.

foto CHIP said...

Lovely and the colour too :)

margie said...

beautiful shots, i love the colour.

Sarah Sullivan said...

Beautiful - the color is stunning!!! Sarah