Botanical Family · Myrtales

Melastomataceae

Melastome family

35 speciesOrder Myrtales8+ well-known plants

A large family of tropical herbs, shrubs, and trees readily identified by their strongly ribbed leaves with parallel veins running from base to apex. Most diverse in the neotropics. The anthers often have distinctive pore openings and elaborate appendages.

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Representative specimen · Melastomataceae

Key pattern

Leaves marked with three to seven strong veins running arched and roughly parallel from base to tip, joined by fine ladder-rung cross-veins — a leaf pattern (plinervation) distinctive enough to name the family on sight; anthers open through a pore and often carry a curved beak.

Overwhelmingly a family of tropical understorey herbs, shrubs, and small trees, most diverse in humid forest habitats where the ribbed-leaf pattern stands out against the surrounding foliage.

Identify the species

Which Melastomataceae species is this?

Answer what you can see and narrow it down to a single Melastomataceae species.

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HabitWhat is the plant's growth habit?

Herb

Shrub

Tree

Flower SizeHow large and showy are the flowers?

Large and showy (several cm across)

Small and inconspicuous

Flower ColorWhat color are the flowers?

Blue

Pink

Purple

Purple/violet

White

Flower SizeHow large and showy are the flowers?

Large and showy (several cm across)

Small and inconspicuous

Flower ColorWhat color are the flowers?

Blue

Yellow

How to recognise the Melastomataceae family

01
Arcuate parallel leaf veins (plinerved)
02
Connective appendages on anthers
03
Berry or capsule; common in forest understory

Family identification method

To check whether a plant belongs to Melastomataceae, compare the leaf arrangement, leaf type, flower symmetry, fruit type, and one distinctive marker together. A single feature can mislead; the family pattern is the combination.

Learn the full family-identification method