Melastoma candidum Asian Melastome

Melastoma candidum, native to Southeast Asia, is cultivated in Hawai'i and other tropical areas as an ornamental shrub. In Hawai'i, M. candidum has escaped from cultivation and is now locally abundant and invasive in mesic to wet areas, windward areas, and bog margins on Kaua'i, O'ahu, and Hawai'i from sea level up to about 900 m (2,952 ft) (Conant 1996, Wagner et al. 1999). The genus Melastoma is taxonomically difficult and there has been confusion with several species. M. candidum was previously called M. malabathricum (Malabar melastome, Indian rhododendron), a related species, by Hawaiian botanists and appears as this in past literature (Wagner et al. 1999). Some sources list M. candidum as a synonym of M. septemnervium (Kartesz 1996). In addition, a related species with similar appearance, M. sanguineum (fox-tongued melastoma, red melastome), is also cultivated and naturalized on the island of Hawai'i (Wagner et al. 1999). Furthermore, some Tibouchina species may also be confused as Melastoma species. On Maui, there has also been some confusion in identifying Melastoma spp. Previously not known to be present on Maui, what was thought to be M. candidum was recently found to be sparingly cultivated in a few locations on East Maui. After close